Schizophrenia affects more than 1% of the world's population, causing great personal suffering and socioeconomic burden. These costs associated with schizophrenia necessitate inquiry into the causes and treatment of the illness but generate ethical challenges related to the specific nature and deficits of the illness itself. In this article, we present a systematic analysis of narrative data from 63 people living with the illness of schizophrenia collected through semistructured interviews about their attitudes, beliefs, and experiences related to psychiatric research. In the comments of these individuals, half of whom had had prior personal experience in research protocols, we identified factors influencing openness toward research involvement as well as deterrents that appear to lessen interest in participation. Clear response pattern differences emerged between those with prior research experience and those without such experience. In the discussion, we explore the key findings and outline the implications for safeguards in mental illness research.

While demand for computer science and information technology skills grows, the proportion of women entering computer science (CS) fields has declined. One critical juncture is the transition from high school to college. In our study, we examined factors predicting college persistence in computer science- and technology-related majors from data collected from female high school students. We fielded a survey that asked about students’ interest and confidence in computing as well as their intentions to learn programming, game design, or invent new technology. The survey also asked about perceived social support from friends and family for pursuing computing as well as experiences with computing, including the CS Advanced Placement (AP) exam, out-of-school time activities such as clubs, and internships. Multinomial regression was used to predict persistence in computing and tech majors in college. Programming during high school, taking the CS Advanced Placement exam, and participation in the Aspirations awards program were the best predictors of persistence three years after the high school survey in both CS and other technology-related majors. Participation in tech-related work, internships, or after-school programs was negatively associated with persistence, and involvement with computing sub-domains of game design and inventing new applications were not associated with persistence. Our results suggest that efforts to broaden participation in computing should emphasize education in computer programming.

The criteria-focused intervention produced enhanced ethical evaluation skills. This work supports the potential value of empirically derived methods for preparing professionals to discern ethical aspects of human studies.