Assisted Reproductive Technology national consultation

More information about the survey

• Voluntary participation

  • Participation is voluntary: it's completely your choice, and saying no won't affect you in any way.
  • Individual responses will not be shared with ART providers or any other services.
  • ART services will not know if you do the survey or not, and your access to any government services will not be affected if you participate or not.
  • If you start the survey and change your mind, you can exit the survey to end your participation. Your progress will be saved, but your responses will only be sent to us when you reach the end and press the submit button. After you press submit, you can’t change your answers. You can save a copy of your answers before you press the submit button.

• Use of your information

  • The information you share in the survey will be combined with other people's responses. We will group the responses into "themes" to summarise the information.
  • We may include short examples or stories (vignettes) in the report to illustrate people's experiences. These short examples will reflect the experiences of multiple participants to highlight common themes. To protect your privacy, short examples won’t include any personal details or information that could identify you.
  • This information will be included in a report for the State, Territory, and Commonwealth governments.
  • The report may also be published online.
  • A plain language summary will be shared later this year with people who express interest in receiving it through this survey.
  • Your information is only being collected for this project. It will not be used or disclosed for any other purpose.
  • The survey platform (Qualtrics) is based in the United States of America and in rare cases, it may be subject to laws that could allow access to your information by the United States authorities. Your information will be stored on Qualtrics' servers in Australia and deleted at the end of the project.

• Confidentiality

  • Your responses are anonymous.
  • There are a number of questions where you can write your answers. Please do not write identifiable information about yourself or any other person into these free text spaces, so your responses can remain anonymous. If you are including information about another person too, for example, about your partner’s experience, please make sure you get their consent first to share their information.
  • Your name will not be included in any reports and will not be connected to survey results.
  • Your information will not be shared with ART/IVF providers.
  • Your information will be stored on the department’s secure password protected network drive in line with the department’s policies and relevant privacy laws. Access will be restricted to the project team.

• Focus groups

  The survey will ask whether you would like to participate in an optional focus group. To participate in a focus group, you will need to provide contact details in a separate Expression of Interest (EOI) online form, which will be kept separate from your survey answers.

  Please be aware that expressing an interest in the focus group does not guarantee an invitation to participate, as numbers will be limited.

• Support is available

  Some questions might feel personal or bring up strong feelings. You may want to think about what would help with this before you start the survey. For example, you might want to do the survey in a comfortable place and talk to someone you trust after you finish.

  We understand that reflecting on fertility journeys can be emotional. We encourage you to plan ahead and seek support if needed.

  If you are in need of urgent medical or psychological assistance, call 000.

  If you are not experiencing an emergency but have concerns about your mental or emotional wellbeing, speak to your general practitioner (GP).

  Support is also available from:

  • Lifeline Tel. 13 11 14 (24/7) – crisis support and suicide prevention services
  • SANE Tel. 1800 187 263 (10am–10pm weekdays) – for people affected by complex mental health issues
  • Beyond Blue Tel. 1300 224 636 (24/7) – for depression, anxiety and related concerns
  • 1800RESPECT Tel. 1800 737 732 (24/7) – domestic, family and sexual violence counselling
  • QLife Tel. 1800 184 527 (3pm–9pm) – LGBTIQ+ peer support and referral
  • YourIVFSuccess – helpful resources from IVF consumer organisations and authorities

• Benefits for participating

  You will not be paid for doing this survey.

  While participation may not directly benefit you or your experience with ART services, your feedback will help shape change that could improve the experience for others in the future.