Welcome Letter

Dear Participant,

My name is Fr. Richard Jakubik, a licensed clinical social worker. I am working toward completing my doctoral degree in clinical psychology at Argosy University. You are being contacted because you recently showed interest in participating in a Divorce Support Group study. This research study will contribute to the improvement of divorce support groups. I plan to ask forty-five people, eighteen years of age or older and who have been divorced for at least one month to participate in this research study. This study is sponsored by Argosy University.

I would like to invite you to meet with me for an individual appointment so that I can answer your questions you may have in regard to participating in this study. If you decide not to be in the study, I can provide you with referrals for individual counseling. If you decide to be in the study, you will be asked to fill out a demographic form, consent form and four questionnaires: a depression scale inventory; an anxiety scale inventory; a well-being inventory; and a physical symptoms inventory. This data will be collected to determine whether a person is right for this particular study. The testing is expected to take about one hour to complete. To keep this information confidential, the paperwork you fill out will be placed in a locked file cabinet. The researchers will enter this material into a computer that is password-protected. To protect confidentiality, your real name will not be used and a code number will be assigned. Your name or other identifying information will not be reported in any publication. The key linking your name to the data will be destroyed after the data analysis is complete, and all the data will be destroyed after five years.

If you are not selected, your demographic information, consent form, and testing material will be properly destroyed by the researcher and referrals will be given for other counseling services in the Chicago area. If you meet the criteria, you will be assigned to one of three study groups, two groups will receive treatment (two-hour group therapy sessions for ten weeks, a total of twenty hours of group therapy), and one group (the wait-list control group) will not receive treatment until after the study has been completed. If selected for the wait-list control group, you will complete three rounds of testing: at the beginning of the study; the end of the ten week support group; and three months after the support group sessions ended. After the three months and testing are completed, the wait-list control group will be offered ten-weeks of group, if so desired. Participants assigned to a therapy group will be exposed to ten, two-hour sessions with the therapist, a licensed clinical social worker.

You can feel free to contact me at 847-239-2326 or at richard.jakubik@yahoo.com for any research-related problems or questions regarding your rights. You may also direct problems or questions to the Institutional Review Board through the IRB Chair, Dr. David Van Dyke (dvandyke@argosy.edu) or through Dr. Leah Horvath (lhorvath@argosy.edu), the faculty advisor for this study at 312-777-7600.

Sincerely,

Fr. Richard Jakubik, LCSW