1. Ethical concerns in suicide research: thematic analysis of the views of human research ethics committees in Australia
- Author
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Georgia Dempster, Karolina Krysinska, Karl Andriessen, Jane Pirkis, Jo Robinson, Emma Barnard, and Lennart Reifels
- Subjects
Medical Ethics ,Research ethics committee ,Health (social science) ,Social Sciences ,Suicide prevention ,Ethics, Research ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Social Sciences - Other Topics ,Humans ,Ethical review ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Ethics ,lcsh:R723-726 ,Science & Technology ,Health Policy ,Research ,Ethics committee ,Australia ,Applied ethics ,Research Personnel ,Biomedical Social Sciences ,030227 psychiatry ,Social Sciences, Biomedical ,Issues, ethics and legal aspects ,Suicide ,Philosophy of medicine ,IRB ,Engineering ethics ,Human research ,Thematic analysis ,Psychology ,lcsh:Medical philosophy. Medical ethics ,Life Sciences & Biomedicine ,Medical ethics ,Qualitative research ,Research Article ,Ethics Committees, Research - Abstract
Background Suicide research aims to contribute to a better understanding of suicidal behaviour and its prevention. However, there are many ethical challenges in this research field, for example, regarding consent and potential risks to participants. While studies to-date have focused on the perspective of the researchers, this study aimed to investigate the views and experiences of members of Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs) in dealing with suicide-related study applications. Methods This qualitative study entailed a thematic analysis using an inductive approach. We conducted semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample (N = 15) of HREC Chairs or their delegates from Australian research-intensive universities. The interview guide included questions regarding the ethical concerns and challenges in suicide-related research raised by HREC members, how they dealt with those challenges and what advice they could give to researchers. Results The analysis identified four main themes: (1) HREC members’ experiences of reviewing suicide-related study applications, (2) HREC members’ perceptions of suicide, suicide research, and study participants, (3) Complexity in HREC members’ decision-making processes, and (4) HREC members’ relationships with researchers. Conclusions Reliance on ethical guidelines and dialogue with researchers are crucial in the assessment of suicide-related study applications. Both researchers and HREC members may benefit from guidance and resources on how to conduct ethically sound suicide-related studies. Developing working relationships will be likely to help HRECs to facilitate high quality, ethical suicide-related research and researchers to conduct such research.
- Published
- 2021