Participation in the Registry includes the following Activities:
If you choose to complete the consent process and become a Member of the Registry, you may complete any of the following online forms to support the Registry and advance uterine cancer research. In addition, Members may use the Registry website to publically share their story using the Stories link. Members may use the News link to learn about additional research opportunities as well as local, national and global events.
- Member Profile: Collects contact and user account details.
- Medical Release Form: Authorizes the release of medical reports to be submitted to the Registry for research. These reports may be from your cancer surgeries (operative, pathology, and cytology reports), including your initial cancer surgery, or reports documenting disease progression or recurrence.
- Medical Authorization to Release Health Information Form: Allows a family member, friend or clinical staff to provide cancer updates on your behalf.
- Medical Update Form: Accompanies the Medical Authorization Form and provides a simple guide to the vital information the Registry will request from whomever you authorize
- Research Form 1: A questionnaire for new Members that collects information about you and your reproductive history, medical condition, family cancer history, feelings, social support, barriers to care, physical activities, preferences and food intake.
- Research Form 2: A form for new Members that collects details about your cancer diagnosis, treatments, symptoms, and health screenings and care.
- Research Form 3: An annual form that collects new details about your cancer diagnosis, treatments, survivorship, and health screenings and care.
5. WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL RISKS AND DISCOMFORTS?
The main risk of contributing data to the Registry is the loss of privacy and confidentiality. The Registry utilizes all available steps and procedures to protect your privacy and confidentiality. While we believe that the risk to you is very low, we cannot tell you that there aren’t any risks. The Registry protects your privacy and confidentiality by limiting the amount of personal information that we request from you to your name, email, date of birth, phone number, city, state, zip code, country and dates such as dates of diagnosis, cancer surgeries and cancer evaluations. We do not ask you for your social security number or any account numbers.
Your personal information will be used to operate the Registry and will never be given to Researchers. Researchers will only be given access to coded de-identified data from the Registry.
6. FUTURE CONTACT FOR RESEARCH
To further advance uterine cancer research, the Registry will partner with approved investigators on special Registry sub-studies and/or independent companion research projects. Members of the Registry who satisfy the eligibility criteria for these optional studies will be recruited. One planned future sub-study, for example, involves the ability for Members of the Registry to contribute specimens to further uterine cancer research. If you are contacted about one of these special optional research studies and wish to learn more, you will be instructed to view promotion materials including brochures, webpages and/or videos about the research projects. If you decide to participate in any of these optional research studies, you will be required to complete a separate informed consent. Your decision to participate in any optional research projects will not affect your care in any way and will not impact your participation in the Registry.
7. WHAT ARE THE POTENTIAL COSTS TO TAKE PART IN THIS STUDY?
There is a potential cost to you for contributing data to the Registry for research. This is only a potential cost because some hospitals and doctors charge a fee to provide copies of medical reports. If your hospital or doctor charges a fee to make copies of your medical reports, there are two options for covering this fee:
- Option 1 is for individual Members, who have the means, to pay the fee. If you have the means, you will be able to pay the fee or not.
- Option 2
is for the Registry to secure funding from donations or grants, for example, to pay the fee. If there is a fee and you opt for Option 2, you will not be sent compensation directly to pay any fees associated with obtaining copies of your medical reports. Please send an email with the details regarding the amount of the fee, and to whom the fee should be paid to ucr@endgyncancer.com. The Registry will then deal directly with the hospital or your doctor to get copies of your medical reports once funding is secured to pay the fee.
8. THERE ARE NO PAYMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION
You will not be compensated for your participation in the study. Research done with your data may help to develop new products, tests and therapies in the future that could be patented and licensed. There are no plans to provide you or your family with any direct financial compensation or other benefits.
9. THIS IS NOT A CANCER TREATMENT STUDY
This is not a treatment study. If you are seeking treatment for your cancer, please contact your doctor to obtain a referral to a qualified health care professional to get treatment.
10. WHAT ABOUT CONFIDENTIALITY?
The Registry uses a secure website and online forms to collect information about you and your cancer to operate the Registry and for research. Some of the forms will collect personal identifiers that are necessary to operate the Registry. These identifiers will never be shared with any Investigators doing research. The data that will be used for research will be stored in a secure, coded, electronic research record. If you choose to submit any medical reports, they can be securely emailed to the Registry at ucr@endgyncancer.com or via a secure encrypted eFax account at (703) 940-1390. Trained Registry staff assigned by the Principal Investigator will be responsible for the following:
- Ensuring that your electronic research record doesn’t contain your name, street address, email address, phone number, month or day of birth, medical record number, surgiopathologic accession number, or any other personal identifiers. Your electronic research record will be labeled with a coded ID (made up of unique numbers and letters) that cannot identify you. Researchers who get data from the Registry must agree to keep patient data private and confidential, and to only use the data for ethical research.
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Providing information and answering questions about the Registry, assisting with the consent process, providing member support for navigating the website, and following up with Members regarding medical release, medical authorization, and annual research forms.
- Maintaining functionality, performance, and security for the Registry website, data, and supporting infrastructure.
Portions of your data may be viewed by or given to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) agencies, the Western Institutional Review Board® (WIRB®) or other Institutional Review Boards, Inova Health System, Gynecologic Cancer Center of Excellence, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, the Uniformed Services University, Spark Media, Dataprise, and other Sponsors. Total confidentiality cannot be guaranteed because of the potential need to give information to these parties. Procedures and safeguards are in place to make this risk as small as possible. Individuals who work for these organizations are all required to keep patient data private and confidential, and to only use the data ethically for approved reasons.
Information about the Registry and results from research conducted using data from the Registry will be presented at meetings and in publications. Your protected health information will not be given to researchers and will not be included in any presentations or publications
11. HOW LONG WILL YOU BE IN THIS STUDY AND CAN YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND ABOUT PARTICIPATING OR THE USE OF YOUR DATA?
You will be able to participate in the Uterine Cancer Registry indefinitely, or as long as funding is available to continue to operate the Registry. You can change your mind about the use of your data or decided to stop being part of the Registry at any time by completing the online Change Your Consent Form and/or the Registry Withdrawal Form on the website.
12. FUNDING AND SUPPORT FOR THIS STUDY
This study is being funded by the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Inova Fairfax Hospital, the Inova Research Foundation, and the Gynecologic Cancer Center of Excellence (GYN-COE).
13. WHO CAN ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STUDY?
You can use the online appointment scheduler on the website to schedule an appointment to talk with someone about the Registry and get answers to your questions.
If you have questions about your rights as a research subject or if you have concerns or complaints about this study, you may contact the Western Institutional Review Board® (WIRB®) at 1019 39th Avenue SE Suite 120, Puyallup, Washington 98374-2115, by calling 1-800-562-4789 or 360 252 2500, or by sending an email to Help@wirb.com. WIRB is an organization of people who independently review research.