Welcome to the participants’ webpage of the BELHEALTH study, a study on health and wellbeing in Belgium. We are currently looking for people to become members of the BELHEALTH cohort.
I would like to take part in the survey
As a cohort member, you will receive a short online questionnaire every six months, asking about your physical and mental health, lifestyle, and experiences. It takes only a few minutes, but your answers make a real difference.
By participating, you help us:
- track changes in health and wellbeing over time
- inform policymakers and shape public health strategies
You will also receive some practical tips to enhance your mental health.
We remind you that your participation is not mandatory and you can decide to end your participation at any time.
Want to know more about our results?
I want to know more about the protection of my data and privacy
Who is taking the initiative for this study?
Researchers from Sciensano: Rana Charafeddine, Stefaan Demarest, Camille Duveau, Lydia Gisle and Lize Hermans from the Health Information service.
Ethics and insurance
The project was approved by the ethics committee of the University Hospital Ghent (UZ Gent) and the University of Ghent (UGent).
The study is conducted in accordance with Good Clinical Practice Guidelines and the Declaration of Helsinki, developed to protect individuals participating in health and medical research.
There is no health risk to participating in this study.
There is no cost to you for participating in this study, but there is no financial benefit either.
Insurance was taken for this study (n°45.463.539, info.assurance@ethias.be).
Protection of your data
Your participation is completely voluntary and you may decide to discontinue your participation at any time. The information you provide via the questionnaire will only be used for the purposes indicated on the BELHEALTH project webpage. Sciensano will only use this information to compile general statistics.
Rights, data storage and data access
In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right to request access, correction, restriction of processing, objection and transfer of your data. You also have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal. You can exercise your rights by contacting the Data Protection Officer at dpo@sciensano.be or 02/642 51 02 or via the online contact form https://www.sciensano.be/en/privacy-notice-sciensano.
Once the survey data arrives to Sciensano, the survey data are placed in a folder accessible only to the scientific collaborators involved in this study. Your contact details will only be used for this study and will not be shared with other parties. To better understand changes over time, your responses from this survey will be linked to your responses from previous and future survey waves. Additionally, the data may be used for scientific publications or shared with other researchers outside Sciensano’s research team. In all the above cases, no individual data will be published or transmitted. Coded data may be shared with other researchers for reuse in future research, and such projects should always be approved first by an ethics committee.
Who is responsible for the processing of the data?
Sciensano is responsible for the processing of the data. The processing is based on the ground of consent (art. 6.1 (a) of the General Data Protection regulation (GDPR)). Consent provides the legal exception to process data concerning health. (art. 9.2 (a), of the GDPR). The processing of data is done by authorized persons, under supervision by the project collaborators (Stefaan Demarest, Lydia Gisle, Rana Charafeddine, Lize Hermans and Camille Duveau from the Health Information service). Contact: (belhealth@sciensano.be).
Questions or complaints about data protection?
If you have any questions about the protection of your personal data, you may contact Sciensano’s Data Protection Officer at DPO@sciensano.be or 02/642 51 02. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in Belgium this is the Data Protection Authority (contact@apd-gba.be or 02/274 48 00). You can find more information on the website https://www.dataprotectionauthority.be/citizen.