Pharmaceutical waste: understanding medication use and disposal practices

Principal Investigator: Christine Vatovec, PhD

Project Sponsor: Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont

The purpose of this research is to understand where pharmaceutical waste comes from, and how people are disposing of their unused medication. To do this, we are inviting people who live in Burlington, Vermont who are at least 18 years old to participate in this survey.

Eligibility. To determine your eligibility for participating, please answer this question:

Is Burlington, Vermont your current place of residence?

If NO, please stop.

If YES, please continue.

Are you 18 or older?

If NO, please stop.

If YES, you are eligible to participate in this study.

What Is Involved In The Study? The survey should take about 20 minutes to complete, and will include questions about your use and disposal of over-the-counter and prescription medications during the past twelve months, and demographic questions that will help us describe the group of people who take the survey.

What risks are involved in the study? The only potential risk to participating in this study is the possibility that someone may find out you participated in the survey. We will not ask for your name or other identifying information, and we will do our best to protect the information we collect during this study to avoid any potential risk for an accidental breach of confidentiality.

Your participation in this study is fully voluntary and you may choose not to participate.

Contact Information If you have any questions you may contact Dr. Christine Vatovec, the Investigator in charge of this study, at 802-656-2728, for more information about this study. If you have any questions about your rights as a participant in a research study you should contact the Director of the Research Protections Office at the University of Vermont at 802-656-5040.

Your consent to participate is implied upon completion of the survey.

THANK YOU!