Hyllestad, Susanne http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4282-5380
Veneti, Lamprini
Bugge, Annechen Bahr
Rosenberg, Thea Grav
Nygård, Karin
Aavitsland, Preben
Article History
Received: 18 December 2018
Accepted: 15 August 2019
First Online: 29 August 2019
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: The Data Protection Officer at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health waived the need for ethical sapproval according to national regulations (The Act on medical and health research of 20 June 2008) since the study did not collect personal health data and the participants to the survey remained anonymous. The need for ethical approval for the conducting the focus groups was waived to the same act. The respondents to the survey consented by filling out the questionnaire after reading the introductory text. No participants below 16 years were invited to the study. The need for written consent for the participants in the focus groups was waived according to the Act of 14 April 2000 relating to the processing of personal data (Personal Data Act) since the data collection did not contain any person sensitive data. The participants in the focus groups provided verbal consent and an email with confirmation of the verbal consent was sent to each participant who had given the consent to be a part of the study. In this email, the object of the study was repeated and the procedures for the data collection (tape recording) in the focus group was explained. The correspondence of the email with conformations of verbal consent were filed on a secure server only accessible for the responsible recruiter. The participant and their contact information provided the study, were decoded and the file connecting the participant to their contact information were stored separately and deleted 6 months after the data collection had found place. At the beginning of the focus group discussions, the objectives of the study and means of data collection were explained again to each participant in the focus groups. The participants were assured of the anonymity and confidentiality of their responses. They were also explained that their participation were voluntary and that they could withdraw at any time.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.