Abstract
The research ethics review of projects involving young people/children is never easy. It can become especially problematic when there is a degree of uncertainty as to the risks and to the benefits. When this is the case a reviewing committee may struggle to see how the benefits justify the risks. In practice this requires thinking about the hoped benefits and the anticipated risks. It requires a keen consideration of the strategies to mitigate the risks. This great paper explores the consideration by research ethics committees. This is a useful read for researchers and research ethics reviewers. We have included links to six related items.
Keywords:
IRB performance/quality/assessment/evaluation; and burdens of research/ beneficence and nonMaleficence; behavioral social science research; benefits; children and adolescent/pediatrics; decision making capacity/surrogate decision makers; justice/participant selection/inclusion/recruitment; parental consent/child assent; payment for research participation; research ethics committee/IRB review; risks; vignette studies.
Taplin, S., Chalmers, J., Brown, J., Moore, T., & Graham, A. (2022) McArthur M. How do Research Ethics Committee Members Respond to Hypothetical Studies with Children? Results from the MESSI Study. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics. 18:15562646221087530. doi: 10.1177/15562646221087530. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35301891.
Publisher: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35301891/

These days we don’t usually include papers locked behind a paywall but we felt this one was important enough to include.