Doing participant observation in a psychiatric hospital— Research ethics resumed

Abstract

Social scientists who employ participant observation methods in medical settings are often held accountable for their research methods, specifically in regard to medical research ethics. However, the medical research ethics tradition rubs uneasily against participant observation and the anthropological understanding of the research process. The underlying premise for considering research ethics in the current case is the notion of the vulnerability of psychiatric patients as a participant group. Based on this notion of vulnerability among psychiatric patients, this article discusses the epistemological grounds for vulnerability in anthropological and medical research ethics. The authors draw on their experience with the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics in Norway, and the consequences of the guidelines used for participant observation as a research method in a psychiatric hospital. Social science researchers are required to follow medical ethical guidelines, such as informed consent, the principle of voluntariness, and estimation of risks and benefits. Ethnographers have found these guidelines to be obstructive when doing social science research in a psychiatric hospital. The article suggests the need for reformulation of research guidelines for participant observation in medical settings.

The Politics of Mental Illness and Involvement—<i>A Discourse Analysis of Danish Anti-Stigma and Social Inclusion Campaigns</i>

“…In a Norwegian context, Øye et al equally pointed out that the psychiatric care and treatment are organized based on parallel psychodynamic notions of the patient as a weak, vulnerable and childlike subject (Oeye, Bjelland, Skorpen, & Anderssen, 2009). Furthermore Øye et al have shown that the underlying medical-ethical rationale in the psychiatric field in Norway is based on articulations of the patient as weak or vulnerable, because national policies for this field and the medical ethical committee system signal consent to this rationale (Oeye, Bjelland, & Skorpen, 2007). Overall, these studies point out that weakness works an inherent part of the classification of mental illness in Scandinavia.…”

Raising Adults as Children? A Report on Milieu Therapy in a Psychiatric Ward in Norway

“…Some patients were regarded as vulnerable with impaired decision-making capacity; therefore these patients were not asked for interviews. For further ethical considerations when doing participant observation involving psychiatric patients, see Oeye, Bjelland, and Skorpen (2007).…”

The dual role of the action researcher

“…The examples illustrate how questions raised by the Regional Committee of Medical Research Ethics became relevant for the experiences made in the study. They throw an interesting light on an emerging debate in qualitative research, which addresses the relevance of the medical ethics tradition in participatory research (Oeye, Bjelland, & Skorpen, 2007). …”