Ethics and dissemination

This study was initially approved by the Hamilton Integrated Research Ethics Board under Project #11034, on 3 June 2020. It has also been approved by the Mount Saint Vincent University Research Ethics Board under Project #2020-187, #2021-075 and #2022-008. At each new study assessment, caregivers provide consent for their continued participation and are informed of their right to stop participation, or not participate in any aspect of the study, at any time. Participants are required to sign the electronic informed consent form prior to providing data.

Deidentification and data storage plans comply with the Tri-Council Policy Statement-2. All questionnaire data collected are deidentified, labelled only with the data collection date and unique participant ID. Identifiable data are stored separately and is password protected. Videos are stored on secure/encrypted drives on password-protected computers within locked laboratories. Biological samples are labelled with unique participant ID and stored in locked cabinets and freezers within locked laboratories.

Study findings will be disseminated in several ways, including peer-reviewed journal articles; presentations at researcher conferences; presentations to members of the community, policy partners and practitioners; and updates to study participants through electronic newsletters and website postings.

As of January 2023, data collection is complete up to 15 months postpartum (T4) and 25 months postpartum data collection is underway. Initial findings related exclusively to questionnaire data have been published.^{28 31}