Investigators:
Associate Professor Simon Knowles (Associate Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology & Clinical Psychologist) & Stephan Moller (Research assistant)  

Introduction to project:
I am interested in furthering current knowledge relating to male public restroom urinal use (or avoidance). To participate you must be male, aged 18 years of age or older and are fluent in English. This project involves exploring what socio-cognitive processes might explain urinal choice in public restrooms and levels of anxiety related to this choice. 
Toilet anxiety refers to not feeling comfortable using a public toilet (i.e., urinating and/or having a bowel motion) despite feeling comfortable using the toilet at home. Public restroom anxiety affects around 1 in 10 adults, and to date there has been limited study investigating feelings of worry and nervousness while using public restrooms and its relationship with social anxiety. If you would like to participate, your answers will help us gain a better understanding of the thinking styles that individuals with urinal-based anxiety. The findings will be used to inform mental health professionals in order to offer better support to individuals feeling uncomfortable in public restrooms.

What participation will involve:
During this study you will be asked about common (yet maybe uncomfortable) experiences that people sometimes have when using a public restroom urinal. These questions are asked to you in the form of an anonymous questionnaire website that you can answer from the privacy of your own home.

In the questionnaire, you will first be asked some demographic questions, followed by a series of short stories outlining a situation involving attending a public restroom. You will be asked to identify a choice of urinal and identify your level of anxiety about using the public restroom. After these short stories, you will then be asked a series of questions relating to toilet anxiety (e.g., I can’t relax when urinating), social anxiety (e.g., I worry I might do something to attract the attention of others), several aspects of social anxiety (e.g., I am concerned that people think I am not good looking), concerns relating to contamination (e.g., I avoid using public toilets because I am afraid of disease and contamination), past traumatic events (e.g., Have you ever experienced, witnessed, or had to deal with an extremely traumatic event?), body image (e.g., I think I have too little muscle on my body), and masculinity (e.g., I would feel good if I had many sexual partners).

There are no right or wrong answers. We are interested in your personal views and experiences. Consent will be implied by completion of the online questionnaire. If you complete this questionnaire as part of the Research Experience Program at Swinburne University, you will receive 1 credit for participation.

The total time to complete the questionnaire is approximately 60 minutes.

You are welcome to start the questionnaire and come back to complete it at another time if you need a break. To do so, please use the same computer you used when starting the questionnaire and click on the study link to resume.

Research outcomes:
Your responses will help to better understand how socio-cognitive processes may explain urinal choice in public restrooms and levels of anxiety related to this choice. The data may also be used in future research studies in the field of social anxiety and public restroom behaviours, including toilet avoidance. It is our aim to publish the findings in a scientific journal.

Privacy & Confidentiality:
At no point in the questionnaire is any information asked that can identify you as an individual. Information from all participants will be held in strict confidence to ensure that no participant can be identified from their responses. All of your provided answers will be stored anonymously with many other participant responses and only the above researchers will have access to the data. The data collected may also be used in combination with other collected data at a later date under the same strict confidence to further explore social and toilet anxiety and restroom behaviours. Non-identifiable data taken from this larger dataset attained may be used by students under supervision of Associate Professor Simon Knowles as part of their research projects. In the event that the data is provided or presented to any sources or published in a scientific journal, the data will be presented to ensure it remains anonymous (i.e., not identifiable) in statistical form (e.g., a percentage).

Participants Rights and Interest - Support:
As this study explores issues relating to social and restroom anxiety, please do not participate if you believe doing so may cause undue distress. If you feel concerned about any of your answers to this questionnaire and how it relates to your physical and/or mental health, please do not hesitate to contact the research supervisor, Associate Professor Simon Knowles, sknowles@swin.edu.au  Tel: +61 3 9214 8206.

Alternatively, if participating in the study has given rise to any concerns, you may want to consider contacting your local health professional. Swinburne counselling service (Level 4, The George, Wakefield St, Tel: +61 3 9214 8025) offers free time limited services to Swinburne students. Low cost counselling is also available to the general public at the Swinburne Psychology Clinic for ongoing psychological support. If you are experiencing a crisis and need help urgently, phone Lifeline on 131 114 or Suicide Line on 1300 651 251 (Australia), or your local area emergency service.

Further information about the project – Who to contact:
If you have any questions or would like to obtain a summary of the findings of this research, please feel free to ask at any stage by contacting: Simon Knowles, Associate Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology & Clinical Psychologist. Email: sknowles@swin.edu.au