Key Information: A Summary
For each section of this summary, there are more details provided in the Details section below. Once you have read this information, you will be asked for your consent at the bottom of the page.
This is a research study. Taking part is totally up to you, and you can stop anytime.
What we want to learn how community and connection shape people's lives over time.
Who can be in the study? New Phoenix members in their first 3 months of membership. Membership will be verified.
What you will do. Fill out online surveys upon starting with The Phoenix, 3 and 6 months later, then once a year for 3 years (7 surveys total).
What we will ask about. Questions ask about specific elements of your life, including your relationship with substances, social connection, health, other life experiences, and use of resources outside The Phoenix.
Risks. We expect risks to be low, but some questions touch on difficult topics. If you need support at any time, support will be provided.
Benefits. Some people find it meaningful to reflect on their own growth. Participants can request a copy of their completed surveys.
Compensation. You will earn a gift card in varying amounts after each survey. You can claim your gift card, or you can choose to donate it. See below for additional information.
Privacy. Your survey answers are stored securely; only shared with the research team; used in aggregate form; and we have secured a Certificate of Confidentiality from the NIH, which protects your responses from being used in legal proceedings.
Changing your mind. You can stop or withdraw at any time, for any reason. It will not impact your access to The Phoenix and/ or NewForm in any way.
Want to talk it through? A trained Peer Researcher can talk through this with you. Send an email to peers@belongingandbecomingstudy.org and a peer researcher will get in touch with you.
The rest of this document covers each of these in more detail.
Further Details
Who can be in the study?
New Phoenix members in their first 3 months of membership. After completing your first surveys, we will verify your membership before sending out the first gift cards. The study team will contact you if we are unable to verify your membership. This verification process helps protect the study against bot submissions.
What is the purpose of this study?
The Belonging and Becoming (B2) Study seeks to understand how community and connection shape people's lives over time. We'll follow new Phoenix members for three years to learn how people's flourishing (living a life that you are happy with across all major categories) and circumstances change, whether or not you keep coming to The Phoenix. What we learn may help improve our programs and help researchers understand what supports flourishing more broadly.
What will happen during the study?
Participating in this study is voluntary. You are not required to participate.
You'll continue doing whatever you'd normally do at The Phoenix, on NewForm, or elsewhere, and you can change what you do as you wish. We'll check in with you at different points (listed below) and ask you to complete online surveys at:
- Study sign-up (two surveys)
- 3 months
- 6 months
- 1 year
- 2 years
- 3 years
The surveys will take approximately 25-30 minutes, and ask about specific areas of your life, including your relationship with substances, social connection, physical and mental health, other life experiences, and use of resources outside The Phoenix. We would also use information about how you engage with The Phoenix with your permission as part of the study. This is information that is already tracked, like who is attending what events. It will save you time because you will not have to remember what Phoenix events you attended or how much you volunteered, if you become a volunteer. We will also track how often you engage in the NewForm app, but we will not look at any specifics. We will only look at how often you engage in the app. You can read more about the privacy policies for the NewForm app here: https://www.newform.org/privacy-policy.
What are the risks of being in this study?
We expect risks to be low. The only risks in this study come from participants choosing to share information with the research team.
Minor emotional risk: some of the questions asked may cause you to think about difficult situations in your past, or that may be uncomfortable to think about. The research team has worked hard to make sure that we ask these in a way that minimizes discomfort.
If you feel distressed or the questions bring up severe emotional discomfort for you, please do not hesitate to use the National Suicide and Crisis Hotline: 988.
Being asked about your private information: you will be asked about topics that are personal in nature, including household income, substance use, mental health, and involvement with the criminal legal system. We will ask questions about substance use and illegal activity in a general way, and do not want specific details.
Breach of confidentiality: While we have strong security measures to protect your information, there is a minimal risk of a breach of confidentiality. If this occurs, unauthorized individuals might access your survey responses, potentially affecting your privacy. To help protect against this risk, your survey answers do not have your name or contact information attached to them. Instead, they have a unique ID (a number generated automatically by the system). Your contact information is stored separately in a locator form. The key linking your contact information (in the locator form) to your unique ID is kept separately from all other information. These steps make it harder for any of your survey responses to be linked to you, even in the unlikely event that unauthorized access does occur.
Your responses are protected. See "How will my information be kept private?" below for the safeguards in place, including an NIH Certificate of Confidentiality that protects your data from being used in legal proceedings.
What are the benefits of being in this study?
To you: Some people find it meaningful to reflect on their own growth over time. The surveys themselves invite that kind of reflection, and you can request a copy of your completed surveys at the end of every survey.
More broadly: When we understand what helps people live meaningful lives, we can share those insights widely. We hope this study will inform how communities, researchers and policy makers approach substance use, mental health and recovery.
We also believe research should come back to the people who make it possible. Findings will be shared openly with The Phoenix community, so the learning generated here continues to serve the people who generated it.
What are alternatives to taking part in the study?
Your alternative is to not take part in this study. There will be no penalty for choosing not to participate, and your relationship with The Phoenix will not be affected.
Are there any costs for participating in the study?
Taking part in the B2 Study is completely free and does not impact your ability to participate in other activities or use other resources.
Is there any payment for participating in the study?
Yes, you can claim a gift card in varying amounts at the end of each survey. The amounts are different because the length of the surveys is different, and because it can be more challenging to stick with a study over a long period of time. You can choose to claim your gift card, or you can donate it to recruit another study participant or donate it to The Phoenix to support free sober programming for more people. When you choose to claim a gift card, we will redirect you to a website that lets you pick from over 100 stores. Surveys must be completed within a certain time frame of when you first receive it.
| Survey |
Payment |
After first receiving the survey, how long do I have to complete it? |
| Baseline Part 1 - Immediately after study sign-up |
$15 |
Within 40 days |
| Baseline Part 2 - Do immediately or wait 1 week |
$10 |
Within 40 days |
| First Locator Form |
$5 |
Within 3 months |
| 3-Month Follow-Up |
$15 |
Within 40 days |
| 6-Month Follow-Up |
$20 |
Within 3 months |
| 1-Year Follow-Up |
$30 |
Within 3 months |
| 2-Year Follow-Up |
$40 |
Within 3 months |
| 3-Year Follow-Up |
$50 |
Within 3 months |
| Full Completion Bonus (earned after completing all surveys within viability windows) |
$25 |
N/A |
| Total Compensation Possible Over 3 Years |
$210 |
N/A |
Do I have to participate in the study?
No. Taking part is totally voluntary. If you join and later change your mind, there are two options:
- Stop participating: You stop receiving future surveys, but the responses you've already given remain in the study.
- Withdraw entirely: You stop receiving future surveys, and all of your past responses are removed from the study.
To stop participating or withdraw entirely from the study, simply contact the research team at team@belongingandbecomingstudy.org.
How will my information be kept confidential and private?
Your survey responses are collected through JotForm, a secure online survey platform. We take several additional steps to protect what you share:
Separate storage: Your survey responses are stored separately from anything that could identify you, such as your sign-up information for the study, NewForm, and The Phoenix.
Unique identifier: Each participant is assigned a random code instead of being identified by name. The key linking codes to identities are stored separately, and are only accessible to the research team. This key will be deleted 3 years after the end of the study, so that your survey answers cannot be linked back to you.
Locator Form protections: The contact information you provide for follow-up surveys is stored separately from your responses, on a secure, encrypted, password-protected server. All locator forms will be deleted at the end of the study.
De-identified analysis: When the research team analyzes the data, we only use de-identified data. That means we will only use data that has had anything that can identify you removed from it. That includes some of the long text response questions we have in the surveys: we will take out any information that might identify you before we analyze it.
Grouped findings only: When we publish results, we only share grouped information. No individual participant can be identified.
Data sharing with other researchers: After the research team's initial analyses, other researchers may request to use the data for related questions about flourishing, social connection, recovery, and similar topics. They must obtain ethics approval, sign a confidentiality agreement, and will only have access to de-identified data (information that cannot be used to identify you). They will not have access to your contact information (locator forms).
NIH Certificate of Confidentiality: Your responses are further protected by a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Even though this study is not NIH-funded, we secured this Certificate as an extra protection. It means your responses cannot be used in legal proceedings. You can read more about what is protected by a NIH Certificate of Confidentiality here: https://grants.nih.gov/policy-and-compliance/policy-topics/human-subjects/coc/information-protected-coc
Who do I get in touch with if I have questions about the study?
You can reach out to be connected to a peer researcher for general questions about the study or for help understanding the informed consent document here: peers@belongingandbecomingstudy.org
You can reach out to the B2 Study team here: team@belongingandbecomingstudy.org
If you have any concerns about the study, you can contact the research ethics board overseeing the study here: Carol Tarzian, tarzian@ndri-usa.org or 917-304-8051. Our IRB credentials are: IRB Registration Number: IRB00012196; Assurance Number: FWA00028794.
How many people are in the study?
A total of 1,300 people will be recruited for this study.
How can I find out new information about the study, including what the study finds?
We're committed to sharing what we learn both during the study and after. Key ways of doing so will include:
- Study website: We'll post updates on the study's progress and any publications at: www.belongingandbecomingstudy.org
- Email updates: We'll send periodic updates directly to participants by email if you opt in to our newsletter (visit the study website to sign up).
- NewForm app: You can find study updates and related learning events through the Research & Insights space.