Ethical Dilemmas in Psychological Research with Vulnerable Groups in Africa

Salaam, Abeeb Olufemi; Brown, Jennifer

doi:10.1080/10508422.2013.774861

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our search revealed nine records that examine in some way the ethical aspects of the conduct of health research in prisons in LMICs; eight of these were peer-reviewed publications 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 and one being…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…’ It is important to understand historical misdemeanours/abuses in medical research in context. Salaam AO & Brown J 35 Ethical Dilemmas in Psychological Research with Vulnerable Groups in Africa. Ethics & Behavior 2013; 23:3, 167-178 The aim of the article is to identify key problems and offer a sensible way to conduct ethically sound applied psychological research among vulnerable or marginalized groups in Africa.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Salaam and Brown identify how difficult this balance can be with prisons, a unique environment demanding careful consideration of each aspect of ethical research practice not a wholesale importation of practices seen in the community. 35 They write, ‘it is important to strike a balance between the safety of individuals (both of the researcher and the researched), cultural sensitivities, the socio-economic realities, and optimal research designs.’ They reflect on such aspects of research practice as the use of incentives/compensation in research in prison, arguing that this needs to be considered very carefully because, given the unique prison environment, what might seem a small recompense in the community might be a huge incentive in prison. They question whether voluntary informed consent is ever truly possible in prison which is essentially a coercive environment.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Ethical guidance for health research in prisons in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

Ako¹,

Plugge

Mhlanga-Gunda

et al. 2020

Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives This study examined the extent, range and nature of the published literature, prison policies and technical guidance relating to the ethical conduct of health research in prisons in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Study design Scoping Review. Methods We adhered to the five stages of the scoping review iterative process: identifying the research question, identifying relevant studies, study selection, charting the data, and collating, summarizing and content analysis of polices. Disagreements around allocation of content were resolved through team discussion. We also appraised the quality of the included articles. Results We included nine records that examined the ethical aspects of the conduct of health research in prisons in LMICs; eight of these were peer-reviewed publications, and one was a toolkit. Despite the unique vulnerabilities of this group, we could find no comprehensive guidelines on the ethical conduct of health research in prisons in LMICs. Conclusions The majority of the world's imprisoned populations are in LMICs, and they have considerable health needs. Research plays an important role in addressing these needs and in so doing, will contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. With regards to health research, imprisoned people in LMICs are ‘left behind’; there is a lack of clear, prison-focused guidance and oversight to ensure high quality ethical health research so necessary in LMICs. There is an urgent need for prison health experts to work with health research ethics experts and custodial practitioners for procedural issues in the development of prison-specific ethical guidance for health research in LMICs aligned with international standards.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ethical guidance for health research in prisons in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

Ako¹,

Plugge

Mhlanga-Gunda

et al. 2020

Public Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Little published literature directly addresses the protection of imprisoned people (and prison staff) in sub-Saharan African health research, and a distinct lack of clear prison focused guidance and oversight in line with international standards to ensure ethical and robust prison health research. 11 Substantial ethical concerns exist in terms of prison management influencing research data, structural obstacles to voluntariness, coercion of imprisoned people and prison staff, and embargoing of academic publications by management and government at a country level. Growth of prison health research activity is therefore dependent upon an adequate ethical framework to protect imprisoned people and prison staff as research participants.…”

Section: Challenges In Ensuring Robust Research and Reporting Of Healmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Growth of prison health research activity is therefore dependent upon an adequate ethical framework to protect imprisoned people and prison staff as research participants. 11 Promoting and supporting good practice in prison health research and the publication of findings is vital to support continental, regional, and international efforts to monitor prison health situation, and to ensure adequate standards of care for imprisoned people and standards of working environments for prison staff.…”

Section: Challenges In Ensuring Robust Research and Reporting Of Healmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges in ensuring robust research and reporting of health outcomes in sub-Saharan African prisons

Mhlanga-Gunda

Motsomi-Moshoeshoe²,

Plugge

et al. 2020

The Lancet Global Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A systematic review on ethical challenges of ‘field’ research in low-income and middle-income countries: respect, justice and beneficence for research staff?

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

IntroductionPrimary data collection in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) is associated with a range of ethical complexities. Considerations on how to adequately ensure the well-being of research staff are largely neglected in contemporary ethics discourse. This systematic review aims to identify the ethical challenges that research staff across different hierarchical levels and scientific disciplines face when conducting research in LMICs.MethodsWe searched 13 electronic databases and handsearched publications in six selected journals as well as the reference lists of all included studies. No restrictions were applied with respect to the publication date, research design, and target population.Results23 151 studies were retrieved, 183 of which met our inclusion criteria. We identified nine different types of ethical challenges that research staff may be exposed to during field research, including (1) role conflicts that can emerge from participants’ help requests and the high level of deprivation found in certain study settings, (2) feelings of guilt and (3) detrimental mental health impacts. Further challenges were (4) sexual harassment (5) safety risks and (6) political repression, particularly in postconflict, disaster-ridden or autocratic study contexts. Additionally, studies reported (7) inadequate working conditions and (8) power imbalances within research teams, while (9) ethics boards were found to be ill equipped to anticipate and address emerging risks, thus increasing the ethical liability of researchers.ConclusionThis review revealed several complex ethical challenges that research staff may face during data collection. In order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 8.8 on ‘safe and secure working environments’ and to protect research staff from harm, amendments must urgently be made to current ethical standards.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42019131013

show abstract

Ethical Dilemmas in Psychological Research with Vulnerable Groups in Africa

Cited by 3 publications

References 13 publications

Ethical guidance for health research in prisons in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

Ethical guidance for health research in prisons in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

Challenges in ensuring robust research and reporting of health outcomes in sub-Saharan African prisons

A systematic review on ethical challenges of ‘field’ research in low-income and middle-income countries: respect, justice and beneficence for research staff?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About