Health Research Ethics: Between Ethics Codes and Culture

Abstract

This article is meant to describe and analyze some of the ethical difficulties encountered in a pilot research on treatment decisions of patients with chronic viral hepatitis C infection in Romania. It departs from an overview of the main ethics codes, and it shows that social health research on patients falls in between institutional codes of ethics. Furthermore, the article moves on to analyze so-called "important moments" of empirical research, such as the implementation of the ethical protocol, dealing with informal payments and with information on shady actions, as well as requests of information from interviewed patients and deciding when and if to breach confidentiality. In an attempt to evaluate the ad hoc solutions found in the field, the concluding remarks discuss these issues at the threshold of theory and practice.

An Interprofessional Approach to Assessing Research Ethics Capacity in Vietnam: Implications for Nursing Education

“…Research ethics is at an early stage of development within the university as noted within the first theme, Promoting Knowledge of Research Ethics. This theme is consistent with research findings from other countries where research ethics are being introduced into university courses (Gheondea-Eladi, 2017). The need for promoting knowledge of research ethics as a distinct area of study as well as processes facilitating ethical research was noted.…”

“…Negotiating the relationships among culture, research, and ethics is exceptionally challenging for researchers from LMIC and HIC. Issues of recruiting research participants, informed consent, and the researcher’s personal perceptions of research ethics are emerging in the literature on a global scale (Gheondea-Eladi, 2017; Murphy et al, 2015; Nakkash et al, 2017). The Fogarty International Research Ethics Education and Curriculum Development Program provides support for research ethics capacity development across the globe; but to date, Vietnam has not been included in the efforts (Millum et al, 2013).…”

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

“…Related to the difficulties cited above with regard to spelling out clearly defined boundaries for the roles and responsibilities taken on by researchers, data collection can call into question fundamental considerations of reciprocity and responsibility. 40 43 44 That is, while research participants invest their time to take part in the study and disclose detailed information during interviews, researchers may feel unable to substantially improve participants’ lives. 45–48 Included studies presented narratives on how the inability to ‘give something back’ to participants can evoke feelings of ‘tremendous guilt’, 49 ‘helplessness’, 46 and that members of the research staff may ‘question the purpose of (their) work as a researcher’.…”

The Cambridge Handbook of Community Psychology

“…Such interactions encompass diverse mechanisms (analyses, reflections, explanations, consolations, ethical considerations, etc. ) and, ultimately, the sharing of satisfactions, relief, and forward-looking plans and purposeswellness at its most meaningful dynamics (Gheondea-Eladi, 2017).…”

“…Values inspire tolerance or rejection, acceptance or indifference visà-vis individual or collective wellness: Breaking or moving away from them destabilizes the nature of wellness as a truly genuine way of living with and among others (Baumeister, 1986). Finally, ethical or moral precepts provide wellness with a unique dimension, a powerful defining summary of the concept and its practice (Bhugra, 2014;Gheondea-Eladi, 2017).…”