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Information for Participants

INISH aims to better understand sexual health and well-being of adults within the Republic of Ireland. At the current stage, we are conducting a so-called ‘feasibility study’ with a relatively small group of participants, to test if the methods and the questions work well. This feasibility study runs between June and August 2025. Based on the feedback from the participants, we will carry out a nationally representative study on sexual health and well-being in 2027. The results will be used by decision-makers and service providers, to improve sexual health related policies and services such as family planning centres, STI (Genito Urinary Medicine) clinics, sexuality and relationships education, and other services.

Who is funding INISH?

The study is funded by the Health Service Executive (HSE) Sexual Health Programme, a national programme with responsibility within the HSE for implementing the National Sexual Health Strategy 2025 – 2035, Ireland’s national framework for sexual health and wellbeing. Find out more

Why have I been asked to participate?

You have been invited to the study based on a method called quota sampling. It means that interviewers employed by Ipsos B&A are calling at people’s homes until a certain number of participants, representing various age groups, genders and geographic locations, are recruited.

Your answers and feedback are invaluable in understanding and improving sexual health and well-being in Ireland. By sharing your experiences and insights related to sexual health, you will help researchers to understand what factors contribute to sexual health and well-being. Your participation will play a crucial role in improving and maintaining sexual well-being of individuals and communities across the country.

What does participation involve and how long will it take?

If you decide to take part in the research, you will be invited to participate in an interview of approximately 45-60 minutes, conducted in person in your home, at a time that is the most suitable to you. If you prefer, the interviewer can schedule an online interview with you via Microsoft Teams.

The interview consists of three parts. First, the interviewer will ask some general questions about you and your health. Then you will be asked to complete an online survey. Finally, the interviewer will ask some follow-up questions.

If you choose an in-person interview, the online survey will be presented to you on a tablet the interviewer will bring with them to your home. If you choose an online interview, the interviewer will share the survey link with you in the chat function of Teams. In each case, the interviewer will stay with you while you respond to the online survey. They will not see your answers, but they are happy to assist you in case if you have any questions.

In the first part of the interview, your personal information and knowledge on sexual health related topics will be sought. Then, in an embedded online survey you will be asked about your sexuality-related experiences and behaviours. We appreciate that these topics are very personal; therefore, providing such questions in an online survey ensures that the interviewer will not have access to your responses. In the final part of the interview, you will be asked about your sexual attitudes and demographic information (e.g. your job, where you live, etc).

Finally, you will be asked to provide feedback on your experience of participating in the study, including any suggestions for improvement.

Is participation confidential?

Your privacy is very important to us. Your identity and privacy will be protected throughout the study. All information you provide will be treated in strict confidence and your identity will remain anonymous in the reporting of findings.

The research team at University of Galway and Ipsos B&A developed the study in a way that your personal information (like your name and your home address) remain protected. After the interview, Ipsos B&A will remove your personal data, therefore your responses to the interview and the online survey cannot be linked to you. This process is called de-identification. You will have control over your data up until de-identification, after which it will not be possible to link your data. Ipsos B&A will transfer de-identified data to University of Galway, where it will be analysed and stored securely. Access to this data will be limited to authorised personnel involved in the research study. There will be no automated decision-making or profiling based on your data.

Are there any risks to participation?

In a comprehensive study on sexual health, questions are asked that might be disturbing, embarrassing, or distressing for some participants. Such questions include, but are not limited to: sexual experiences; bearing or conceiving unwanted/unplanned pregnancies; abortion; unwanted sexual advances, harassment, abuse and violence; sex work; pornography; and sexually transmitted infections.

Your responses will enable us to better help people in the future who have similar experiences, but you are free to skip these and/or any other questions if you don’t want to answer them. We, however, reiterate that the interviewer will not see your responses on questions related to your sexual experiences.

A list of support services and resources is available to all participants. Please note that we will not pass on any personal information related to your sexual health and well-being to healthcare professionals, and we are not able to provide counselling or therapy.

Will I be compensated for my time?

As a recognition for your time and effort, you will be reimbursed with a voucher to the value of €25 upon completing the interview. The voucher will be handed to you by the interviewer in-person, or they will send you an online link to the voucher via the chat function of Teams once the interview is completed.

How will my data be used?

As you answer the interview questions, the interviewer will record those on their laptop into a datafile. Following that, your interview data will be merged with your responses to the online questionnaire by Ipsos B&A. They will not record any information (like your name or your address) that would personally identify you. This ‘de-identified’ datafile will be sent to the research team at University of Galway, where it will be stored on a secure and encrypted server for data analysis purposes.

The data collected from all interviews will be analysed collectively to help inform the development of the main, nationally representative survey, and findings will be discussed with the Health Service Executive. We will not seek any further contact or follow-up with you. Since a very large number of participants will be recruited for the nationally representative survey in 2027, you might be contacted again to participate in that phase. At that point, however, you can decide again if you want to participate.

I have not been invited to the study but I am interested, can I participate?

We are unable to accept volunteers to the Feasibility Study underway between June-August 2025.

In the main study scheduled for 2027, we will use probability sampling, which means that a random sample will be selected and invited to participate. At a later stage, we may additionally invite volunteers to participate, but no decision has been made on it yet. Sign up here.