Dauner, Kim Nichols
Loomer, Lacey
Article History
Received: 23 March 2021
Accepted: 30 July 2021
First Online: 24 August 2021
Declarations
:
: Study procedures were reviewed by the Institutional Review Boards (IRB) of the University of Minnesota and Wilderness Health, both of which formally waived the need for ethical approval. This means that the IRBs felt that the study presented less than minimal risk to participants, per U.S. Federal regulations (Federal Register document number 2017–01058, available at ExternalRef removed) and did not require the written consent of participants. The IRBs at both institutions reviewed the study protocol before data collection and allowed the study to continue, indicating that the study protocol met all institutional ethical standards. Therefore, all methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations and in accordance with the protocol that the first author submitted to the IRBs. Per the approved study protocol, the voluntary nature of the study was communicated to potential participants in the initial email. As mentioned above, the IRBs had determined that because questions were focused on participant activities and perceptions related to their jobs, written informed consent was not required from individual participants. As such, there is no formal documentation of consent. Per the approved study protocol, at the beginning of each interview or focus group, participants were ensured of the confidential nature of their responses and that they could discontinue the interview at any time or opt not to respond to any question. Participants provided verbal consent through their continued participation in the interviews.
: NA.
: The authors do not have any competing interests.