How we protect your privacy

We take personal privacy seriously. 

The Ten to Men study is bound by Commonwealth and state privacy laws, and we will protect your anonymity and the confidentiality of your information to the fullest possible extent, within the limits of the law. 

Your personal information (such as your name, date of birth, Medicare number and address) will never be used together with your survey responses. 

Privacy statement

Ten to Men: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health investigates the health and lifestyle of men and boys. It is the first study of its kind in Australia. The study collects important health information via surveys from the same participants to see how their health changes over time. 

The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care funds the Ten to Men study, which is managed by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), and the Social Research Centre (a data collection company) is responsible for the data collection of the study. 

The management and running of the study is governed by strict procedures to ensure that only authorised people have access to the information provided to us. All interviewers, researchers and others involved in the study comply with the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles. All the providers involved in collecting the survey information adhere to The Research Society's Code of Professional Behaviour and the ISO 20252 standards. 

If the organisation responsible for future data collection phases of the study changes, AIFS will be required to disclose your information to that organisation.  

The information you provide is de-identified and combined with data from other study participants. The Ten to Men data are then used by approved data users such as researchers and policy makers from universities, service providers, not-for-profit organisations and government departments.

Stringent data sharing and review procedures are in place to ensure data is only accessible via the Australian Data Archive (ADA) at the Australian National University (ANU). The ADA is a secured data storage facility. Access to data is managed by the Ten to Men Data Access Review Committee. 

International researchers from various fields can also apply to become approved data users (as for all data users, the data will be de-identified so no individual can be identified). By comparing Ten to Men data with data from similar longitudinal studies conducted in other countries, similarities and differences in male health between countries can be explored. 

Participation in the study is voluntary. Ten to Men participants may withdraw from the study at any time or choose not to take part in some aspects of the study. Any information collected prior to withdrawal that has been released to researchers, analysed and/or used in publication would continue to be used and form part of the Ten to Men study. 

If you have a question, complaint or concern about a data breach, please contact Ten to Men at:

• 1800 019 606
• [email protected]

Learn more about privacy.
 

Our duty of care

While in most circumstances we keep the information you provide strictly confidential, if you tell us you are going to hurt yourself or someone else, or you are being hurt, we will have to tell someone who can help you. If you tell us someone is hurting you, we might be required by law to report it.