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The Veteran Study at Yale
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    INFORMATION FOR

    Your Privacy

    All the information you provide from the interview will be kept private. In order to help us keep your information private, your study information will be labeled with a unique code instead of your name. Your answers will be combined with those of approximately 350 other Veterans who complete the same interview. Study information will only be released as summaries in which no individual can be identified. Your personally identifiable information (your name, your address, your phone number, etc.) will not be used in any reports from this project.

    We understand that information about you obtained in connection with your health is personal, and we are committed to protecting the privacy of that information. If you decide to be in this study, the interviewer will get information that identifies you and your personal health information. This may include information that might directly identify you, such as your name and address. This information will be de-identified at the earliest reasonable time after we receive it, meaning we will replace your identifying information with a code that does not directly identify you. The only link between you and your responses will be your unique project identification number, and this information will be kept separately from your interview responses.

    All identifying information about you will be kept in password-protected computer files on a secure computer system, and any paper copies of the interview information will be stored in locked filing cabinets in a locked storage area. The principal investigator (PI) will keep a link that identifies you to your coded information, and this link will be kept secure and available only to the PI or selected members of the research team. Any information that can identify you will remain confidential. The research team will only give this coded information to others to carry out this research study. All of your records will be stored and eventually destroyed according to the VA Record retention schedule.

    In addition, to further protect your privacy, we have obtained a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health. With this Certificate, the researchers cannot be forced to disclose information that may identify you, even by a court subpoena, in any federal, state, or local civil, criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceedings. The researchers will use the Certificate to resist demands for information that would identify you. However, we may release identifying information in some special circumstances. For example, we may take steps to protect you or someone else from serious harm, including child abuse. A Certificate of Confidentiality does not prevent you from voluntarily releasing information about yourself or your involvement in this research, for example, if you give an insurer, employer, or other person your written consent to receive research information. The Certificate cannot be used to resist a demand for information from personnel of the Government that is used for auditing or evaluating federally funded projects. Because this research is sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) through the Department of Defense, staff from that and other DHHS agencies may review records that identify you only for audit or program evaluation as a part of its human subjects’ protection oversight activities. They cannot report anything that would harm you or other research subjects. This Certificate does not imply that the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, approves or disapproves of this project. The Institutional Review Board at the Yale School of Medicine has approved this project.

    How will you use and share my information?

    We will use your information to conduct the study described in this consent form.

    We may share your information with:

    • The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) agencies
    • Boston Veteran’s Administration
    • Representatives from Yale University, the Yale Human Research Protection Program and the Institutional Review Board (the committee that reviews, approves, and monitors research on human participants), who are responsible for ensuring research compliance. These individuals are required to keep all information confidential.
    • Governmental agencies to whom certain diseases (reportable diseases) must be reported
    • Health care providers who provide services to you in connection with this study.
    • Principal Investigator of the study
    • Co-Investigators and other investigators
    • Study Coordinator and Members of the Research Team

    We will do our best to make sure your information stays private. But, if we share information with people who do not have to follow the Privacy Rule, your information will no longer be protected by the Privacy Rule. Let us know if you have questions about this. However, to better protect your health information, agreements are in place with these individuals and/or companies that require that they keep your information confidential.