Parents & Foster Carers Needed – 5–10 Minute Anonymous Oxford Survey

[MollyMacKean]

Hi everyone,
I’m a trainee clinical psychologist at the University of Oxford conducting an ethically approved research study exploring parents’ and foster carers’ experiences of caring for a child whose behaviour can feel challenging, and the impact this can have.
I am inviting parents and foster carers (18+, UK-based) to complete a short anonymous online survey, which takes around 5–10 minutes.
The aim of the study is to better understand carers’ experiences in order to help inform and improve future support for carers.
Survey link:
https://psychiatryoxford.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bf2MWv1FlbqM63Q
Thank you very much to anyone who is willing to take part.
Molly Mackean
University of Oxford
[email protected]

Can you not just ask if you're male, female or whatever other option you want to put on there?

I don't identify as someone with something 'assigned at birth'

And my child is not 'assigned at birth' either

There's no option for adoptive parent only foster or biological.

Thank you for raising this.
For this survey, we are collecting information about sex assigned at birth in line with the approved study design. I appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective.

Thank you for asking.
For this particular study, we are focusing on biological parents and foster carers in order to answer specific research questions. I completely appreciate that adoptive parents also have very valuable experiences, and I hope future research will be able to explore those perspectives further.
Thank you for raising it.

I was born female. And I'm still female now!

But I still don't like the wording you've put

Sex isn't assigned at birth, it is observed.
And you can't change sex.
So really 'sex' should be good enough.

I do think it is important that the brightest students of today like those at Oxford should understand this!

Sex is not assigned at birth. Using that phrase reflects an ideological position and undermines the scientific neutrality of your work. It’s something the ethics committee should have pointed out. Some potential participants will decline to take part in the survey because this wording is unscientific.