Consent forms should include:
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Permission to record interviews or focus groups (if applicable).
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Assurance of anonymity or confidentiality, including limits (e.g., in focus groups).
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Contact details for the Principal Investigator (PI) or research team, the university ethics committee, and relevant regulatory bodies.
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Option to give permission to reuse data for future studies (if relevant).
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Areas for participant and researcher signatures.
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Instructions on how participants can raise concerns or complaints, including contact emails for the researcher, supervisor, REC-H (rd@mandela.ac.za), NHREC (nhrec@health.gov.za), and SAHPRA (if applicable).
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The ethics approval number (to be added after approval).
Download the informed consent template from the Reference Documentation section on the RECH website. Remember, it is a template you must tailor the content and formatting for your project and remove placeholder text before submitting.
Translation of Consent documents: If your study involves community-based research or participants who may have limited English proficiency (e.g., immigrant populations, international contexts, or multilingual communities), it is important to ensure that all participants clearly understand the study’s purpose, procedures, and any potential risks involved. For this reason, informed consent documents must be translated into the appropriate local language to ensure participants are truly informed before agreeing to take part in the research.