What Have Been the Experiences of Female Survivors of Interpersonal Trauma on the Survive & Thrive Course

Design The proposed research is a qualitative study using a purposive sample (participants have a position of shared experience), consisting of semi-structured interviews and some demographic information will be collected from the Survive & Thrive database.

Procedures All the procedures planned for this research project have been considered in detail to ensure that they follow the highest standards in the BPS (2009) ethical guidelines and the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC, 2012) standards of proficiency. Initially, the Survive & Thrive database will be screened by the Survive & Thrive course team for female patients who have attended any 6 or more sessions out of the 10. These sessions are not required to be consecutive. Each session co-facilitators record attendance that is then stored on the Survive & Thrive SMF. They will be sent a letter informing them of this study along with a participants' information sheet and a reply slip passing on their note of interest to be contacted by the CI about the study (please see attached documents). This letter will be sent by the Survive & Thrive team leader who was in prior contact with the patients and her name has been on prior correspondence with them. It will provide them with space to specify their preferred method of contact. A pre-paid envelope addressed to the CI will be provided. Once reply slip is received, I will contact them to offer further information about the study and arrange to meet with them to complete the consent form and to conduct the semi-structured interview. Please see attached forms that will be sent out to potential participants.

Additionally, co-facilitators will inform current patients about this study at the beginning of week 6 of the Survive & Thrive course and hand out the information sheet and reply slip. At the beginning of week 7, co-facilitators will ask patients to pass on the reply slip if they would like to be contacted by the CI to find out more about the study. The co-facilitators will be provided with an additional form that they will complete along with the attendance sheet (please see attached). This form will enable monitoring of who was informed of the study and who has agreed to be contacted in relation to it. All of the entries in this form will be initialled and dated by the Survive & Thrive co-facilitators. The CI will not have access to these forms and will only be provided with information & contact numbers for individuals who have shown interest in the study and agreed to be contacted in relation to it. When the CI contacts potential participants (upon receiving a reply slip) who have shown interest, it will be specified that the interview will be arranged after the 10th week of the course (once the course is completed). The potential participants had to attend during this time any 6 sessions or more of the 10 (not required to be consecutive).

If they agree to be contacted regarding this study, the CI will then contact them. The CI will provide them with additional information regarding the study that is detailed in the participant information sheet. Participants will be assured that all data is stored securely and confidentially. The demographic data will be given a code along with the interview transcript to match the two data sets.

Once the participants agree to take part, arrangements to meet at one of the clinical rooms will be made. At this point they will confirm their consent to participate in the study by signing the consent form. After they sign the consent form they will take part in the semi-structured interview. Lastly, the participants will take part in a brief off-tape discussion regarding their experience of the interview and thanked for their participation. A list of contact recommendations of who to contact if participants became distressed or would like further support/opportunity to speak about the topics discussed during the interview will be provided to them at the end of the interview.