When a participant stops or asks for deletion

Participants can leave a study at any time from the study app. This article explains what they see, what changes in Zolensa, and how your team finds out.

How participants leave

Before they join, a participant can tap I do not want to take part under the consent form. They confirm, and see a short thank-you page.

After they join, they can stop at any time:

1. In the study app, they open Help and privacy.
2. Under Stop taking part, they can tick Also ask for everything I have shared to be deleted.
3. They tap Stop taking part and confirm.

They then see "You have left the study". If they ticked the deletion box, the page also says that their request has been passed to the research team. See Taking part.

What changes

When a participant leaves:

• Their status becomes Withdrawn.
• They are signed out of the study app on every device.
• Their personal link stops working, and so do the sign-in links in earlier reminder and message emails.
• They get no more reminders and no more tasks.
• They can no longer send messages, and your team can no longer write to them.

You cannot invite a withdrawn participant again or send them a new link.

Their earlier answers

Anything they sent before leaving stays in the study until you delete their data. In Responses, their entries carry the label Left the study, so you can see this while you review. See Review responses.

How your team finds out

1. Go to the Participants tab.
2. Click the Withdrawn status tab to see everyone who has left.
3. Click a participant's code to open their page.

The page says "This participant has left the study." If they asked for deletion, a red notice shows the date: "Asked for everything they shared to be deleted". The notice has a Delete their data link that takes you to the delete section of the page.

The page also shows their consent record, how many entries and files they sent, and a link to their entries.

When anyone in a study has asked for deletion, the Participants tab also shows a red notice at the top. It names everyone who asked, and each code links to that person's page.

Handling a deletion request

Your agency is the controller of the data, so act on each request without delay. Agree inside your team who watches for these notices and handles them.

To delete the participant and their data:

1. Open the participant's page. Click Delete their data in the red notice, or scroll to the bottom.
2. Under Delete P004 and their data, with their code, tick I understand that this cannot be undone.
3. Click Delete P004 and their data and confirm.

This deletes for good their answers, videos, photos, voice notes, messages, their consent record and contact details, on the server and in file storage. Highlights made from their videos are deleted too. This cannot be undone. See Data privacy and retention.

Owners and researchers can delete a participant's data. You can also do it without a request, for anyone who has joined, when you no longer need their data.

Note: Downloads and CSV exports you made earlier may also hold this participant's data. Check them when you handle a request.

Removing someone who has not joined

If a participant has not joined yet, you can take them out of the study yourself. On their page, click the remove button with their code, for example Remove P004, or tick them in the list and choose Remove (only if not joined yet). This deletes them from the study and their invitation link stops working. See Participant statuses.

For participants who have joined, use Delete P004 and their data on their page, as described above.