Help us find solutions for people suffering from chronic low back pain by joining this online study and get up to $50.

It’s easy to register. This link will take you to our secure Qualtrics research page. You will be asked to provide your name, email (a simple way for us to contact you) and answer a series of questions about your low back pain.

Once you register, you’ll be taken to the consent page. This consent page provides you with an outline of the study and details exactly what your role will be.  It is important that you have this information to make an informed decision about participating.

If you join the INVEST study, you’ll be asked to complete an initial online study survey, which takes 10 minutes.   You may also receive special invitations to participate in additional UCSF low back pain studies.  Some examples of future projects include clinical trials and online survey studies as well as participation in a focus group about your back pain.

We hope you will be able to answer the health-related surveys and if you receive special invites from us to join additional studies, we hope you will be interested!  All of these activities will help us track how an individual’s back pain evolves over time and what treatments you may be using as a part of your normal health care.

For INVEST you will complete an initial survey that takes 10 minutes. You might also be asked to participate in a focus group about back pain or other low back pain studies at UCSF.

Absolutely. We take this VERY seriously and do everything we can to protect your information and keep it private and secure.  The Qualtrics platform uses a state-of-the-art HIPAA compliant security system and all sensitive data is encrypted.

If information from this study is published or presented at scientific meetings, your name and other personal information will never be used or released.  This research is covered by a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health. This means that the researchers cannot release or use information that may identify you in any action or suit unless you say it is okay. They also cannot provide them as evidence unless you have agreed.  This protection includes federal, state, or local civil, criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceedings.

We will only use your information for research purposes. Your survey responses will be used in grouped research analyses, and the results of these analyses may be presented at scientific conferences, published, and used to help develop new treatments to help improve the care of patients with back pain like you. These presentations and publications will never include any information that could identify you.

Protection Against Involuntary Disclosure of Your Information: To help us protect your privacy, we have applied for a Certificate of Confidentiality from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). This certificate protects against compulsory legal demands, such as court orders and subpoenas, for identifying information or identifying characteristics of a research participant. The INVEST Study staff can’t be forced to disclose study information that identifies you, even if ordered by a court subpoena, in any federal, state, or local civil, criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceedings. The researchers will use the certificate to resist any demands for information that would identify you, except to prevent serious harm to yourself or others. We will, in all cases, take the necessary action, including reporting to authorities, to prevent serious harm to yourself or others.

Electronic Security and Adherence to the HIPAA Privacy Rule: The INVEST study follows the security guidelines of the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). All study data is transmitted, stored, and processed in a secure environment.

If you have questions about the study before you sign up, or if you have difficulty signing up, please contact us at email investstudy@ucsf.edu or the Invest study phone number at (415) 514-8707.