Dr. Xander Wang, School of Climate Change and Adaptation, UPEI
Email: xxwang@upei.ca
Telephone: 902-739-2244

Dr. Pelin Kinay, School of Climate Change and Adaptation, UPEI
Email: pkinay@upei.ca
Telephone: 902-388-2013

Title of Project: Measuring the Psychological Toll of Hurricane Fiona: A Case Study for Islanders on Prince Edward Island

Introduction
We invite you to take part in a study being conducted by Dr. Xander Wang and Dr. Pelin Kinay at the University of Prince Edward Island. Choosing whether to take part in this study is entirely your choice. There will be no negative impact on you if you decide not to participate. The information below tells you about what is involved in the research, what you will be asked to do, and about any benefit, risk, inconvenience, or discomfort that you might experience. Please take the time to read this carefully and understand it.

You can discuss any questions you have about this study with Dr. Kinay. You can keep a copy of this information letter and consent form. Please ask as many questions as you like if you want more details about anything mentioned here, or information not included here. If you have questions later, please contact Dr. Kinay or Dr. Wang. This project has been reviewed by the UPEI Research Ethics Board and complies with Tri-Council guidelines for research involving human participants.

Purpose of the Study: This is research on the mental health impacts of Hurricane Fiona with the public. The main purpose of the study is to gather qualitative and quantitative data for research purposes and publication.
Who can take part in this Study? People who reside in PEI currently and anyone who is above age 18 can take part in this study.
What will you be asked to do? You will be asked to complete an online survey related to the mental health impacts of Hurricane Fiona. The survey will take around 5 minutes to complete.
What if you decide not to or decide to stop participating? Participation is voluntary. Participants can decide to stop participating anytime during the survey.
What information will be collected and what will happen to it? No personal information will be collected, and the participants will be anonymous. We will use Google Forms for online data collection, however, some of the data collection will also be in hard copies as some of our participants may have hardships reaching these online forms. The paper hard copies will be digitalized by using the SPSS platform for data coding and after 5 years all data will be destroyed.
The UPEI Research Ethics Board may access your data to make sure that the study is done ethically. They will not share it with anyone.
Potential Risks: Medium risk to the participants as the participants may be experiencing stress and recalling certain events that created trauma. All participants will be provided with information for Health PEI Mental Health and Addictions Access Line (1-833-553-6983; princeedwardisland.ca/MHA) in the survey LOI and debrief if they feel they need additional mental health support.
Potential Benefits: Participating in the study will have no direct benefit for you; however, we hope to contribute to the mental health and climate change field of knowledge and through this study, we aim to inform policy as well.
Incentives/Reimbursement: No incentives/ reimbursements will be offered.
Study Results: The study results will be disseminated in academic publications.
Questions or Concerns: For questions and concerns you can contact Dr. Pelin Kinay or Dr. Xander Wang. You can contact the UPEI Research Ethics Board at (902) 620-5104 or researchcompliance@upei.ca if you have any concerns about how this study is done. The REB file number is 6012105.
Consent to participate: You acknowledge that you have read this material and that you want to participate by sending in your comments. Although anonymous, the data cannot be removed once the responses have been submitted.