Respect, Research Merit and Integrity, Justice, and Beneficence
Ethics can be defined as certain values or principles that are required in performing a particular action or a study such as research. There were no rules and regulation before the year 1906 related to the ethical use in research and also there were no regulations related to consumer and no Food and Drug Administration was developed during that time. The National research act was passed in 1974 which involved various principles during the performance of biomedical research that involved human beings. In the year, 2007 The National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research was developed according to the National Health and medical Research Council Act 1992 (Kerkhoff, 2015). It is used for researches including human beings as the participants, researchers those who are involved in research governance, for the members of anybody related to ethical review who reviews that particular research and also the participants that have a potential in performing the research. The National Statement was developed on a joint basis by Universities Australia, the Australian Research Council, and the National Health and Medical Research Council. The National Statement replaced the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans 1999 (Faden, Kass, Goodman, Pronovost, & Tunis, 2013).This essay deals with the ethical principles of conduct and the ethical values in healthcare involving humans as the participants. The ethical procedures that are discussed in this essay are in relation to the study of Overweight and obesity prevalence among adults aged and over in Brisbane.
The values in The National Statement include respect, research merit and integrity, justice and beneficence. Respect plays an important role when it comes to a research study that involves human beings as the sample population because they have their desires and have the right to take their own decisions. Researchers should respect their background, culture, traditions, customs and beliefs. They should pay respect to their privacy and should keep their personal details confidential while performing the research. Human beings should also be encouraged and motivated to take decisions when they are unable to do so for the research process and should also provide protection whenever it is required for them. Research work that has merit is formed using methods that are suitable to achieve the ultimate objective or the main aim of the proposal that has to be designed (Rubenfeld, 2017). It is made on the basis of research that has been done in the past or by studying the literature that is present recently. It should be done by using proper resources and facilities that are useful for the research by expert professionals who are competent enough for that particular research.
Justice should be given to the participants and they should not be forced to participate in a particular research project. The method of recruitment of participants should be appropriate and the benefits should be distributed fairly among all the participants. The participants during the research should not be exploited at any cost. The outcomes of the research should be accessed by the participants clearly and at the same time. He participants should not be exposed to any risks or discomfort during the research study. It is the responsibility of the researchers to provide information about the risks involved and the benefits that would be obtained after performing a particular research (Salazar & DiClemente, 2015). In the study of obese and overweight individuals, the researchers should inform about the benefits such as the statistics of obese individuals in Brisbane they would obtain after performing the study.
The National Statement and Other Guidelines
The researchers should think about the welfare of the various participants in relation to the research study if there are no benefits for the participants, the risks that are involved should be less as compared to the ethical limits when there are benefits for them. The National Statement plays an important role in contributing to provide ethical awareness in relation to research (Holloway & Galvin, 2016). There are various other special guidelines and codes of practice for ethical purpose in various research areas.
A proper procedure is required to approve and support healthcare research. An Institutional Review Board is a committee that plays an important role in the approval, monitoring and reviewing of behavioral and biomedical research work that involves human beings. It helps in protecting the rights of human beings that have participated in the study and provides them welfare (Schenker & London., 2014). The board reviews the protocols and other materials related to the research and help in protecting human beings from any kind of risk or harm.
Consent of the participating individuals also play an important role during the research study and it should be based on the decision of an individual whether to participate in the research study or not that is it should be voluntary (Tylka, Shuman, & Calogero, 2014). The consent depends on the nature and the level of the research to be performed and can be taken in a written or oral manner. It also helps in improving the understanding between the participants and the researchers and provides them the opportunity to interact with each other and inform them about their decisions.
Confidentiality is important in keeping the personal details of the participants in privacy and involves that the information should be obtained from the participants or other organizations or researchers in a direct manner. It develops a bond of trust between the researcher and his participants (Haney-Caron & DeMatteo, 2015).Risks in ethics refers to negative results of actions that are not ethical and are also not expected. It is important to train the individuals about the various risks involved in the research to improve the efficiency of the organization and develop its identity. It is important to create the awareness of the risks and analyze them on various levels such as organizational or individual. For example, in the research study of obese and overweight population in Queensland, the researchers should keep their data such as age, weight and BMI confidential. It is also important for the researchers to determine the risks involved in conducting a particular research involving human beings and provide them the information related to it. The various risks can be a physical or a mental health issue, anxiety, discomfort, lack of accommodation, cultural and communication issues, lack of access to the medical treatment, in the participants (Have, Heide, Mackenbach, & Beaufort., 2013).
A Plain Language Statement is written to provide information to the participants who are prospects in the research conducted by the researchers. It is written in simple and clear language to make them easy to understand. It also helps the researchers to provide information about the number of participants who will take part in the research .It can be modified by the participants according to the requirement of the research project (Arora, 2017).Monitoring of the research process is important to keep a check on the conduct of research and whether it is in accordance to all the ethical values and principles. Monitoring of the ethics committee of research is also important to keep a check on the ethical values and the principles are taken into consideration (Holloway & Galvin, 2016).
Procedures for Approving Healthcare Research
There are various ethical aspects in the research study Overweight and obesity prevalence among adults aged and over in Brisbane. The benefits for the participants in this research study are that they will get statistical information about the prevalence of obese and overweight populations in Brisbane, Queensland. They will also come to know about the dietary factors that lead to an increase in weight. The researchers will also provide some precautionary measures to these individuals to lose weight and improve their health. There are no risks to the participants as a result of participation in the research. It was also found that there were no risks found to the organization and the research team.
The consent process is an agreement made on a voluntary basis by the participants of the research process. It involves all the information related to research that is being conducted by the researchers such as the main aim and procedure of the research, risk factors or any discomfort involved during the study, benefits it will provide to participants and other human beings, duration of the research, and the information regarding the right to confidentiality and the right to withdraw from the research study (Engelbrecht, Engelbrecht, Heine, Heine, & Mahembe., 2017).
There might be some individuals participating in the study may not wish to provide their personal information such as monthly income, sources of income, and expenditure. So, they should be asked for a personal consent before hand and should be provided all the details of the research project. It is the duty of the researcher to respect the decisions taken by the participant and provide them information about the main objective or aim of the research. The aim of this study is to characterize the extent of overweight and obesity, and the prevalence of the causal factors. The information derived from the project may be adopted by decision-makers in the formulation of policies directed at addressing overweight and obesity. The privacy and the confidentiality of the participants can be protected by not sharing the information with other participants and other individuals (Parsons, Moffitt, Gregory, & Goldman-Mellor, 2015). There should be a provision of secured databases to record the data of the participants both during and after the research study to prevent from getting leaked. It is important to protect the data obtained from the research and the computers containing the information should be kept away from public areas and the important documents or files should be kept in locked cabinets. The computers should be protected from passwords, software for anti-virus, and firewalls. Various other measures should also be taken to prevent the modification or loss of data from unauthorized users.
References:
Arora. (2017). INTEGRITY, ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. International Education and Research Journa , 3(5).
Engelbrecht, Engelbrecht, Heine, Heine, & Mahembe., M. &. ( 2017). Integrity, ethical leadership, trust and work engagement. Leadership & Organization Development Journal , 38(3), 368-379.
Faden, Kass, Goodman, Pronovost, & Tunis. (2013). , & Beauchamp, T. L. (2013). An ethics framework for a learning health care system: a departure from traditional research ethics and clinical ethics., . Hastings Center Report , 43(s1), S16-S27.
Haney-Caron, & DeMatteo, G. &. (2015). Safe from Subpoena-The Importance of Certificates of Confidentiality to the Viability and Ethics of Research. Akron L. Rev , 48, 349.
Have, Heide, V. D., Mackenbach, & Beaufort., &. D. (2013). An ethical framework for the prevention of overweight and obesity: a tool for thinking through a programme’s ethical aspects. European journal of public health , 23(2), 299-305.
Holloway, & Galvin. (2016). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare. John Wiley & Sons .
Kerkhoff, A. D. (2015). History, public ethics and the anti-corruption industry. Ethics in public policy and management: A global research companion , 69-86.
Parsons, M. J.-M., Moffitt, Gregory, & Goldman-Mellor. (2015). Social jetlag, obesity and metabolic disorder: investigation in a cohort study. International Journal of Obesity , 39(5), 842-848.
Rubenfeld, A. &. (2017). Ethical issues in research. Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology.
Salazar, & DiClemente, C. &. (2015). Research methods in health promotion. John Wiley & Sons.
Schenker, & London., A. &. (2014). The ethics of advertising for health care services. . The American Journal of Bioethics, , 14(3), 34-43.
Tylka, T. L., Shuman, & Calogero, D. &. (2014). The weight-inclusive versus weight-normative approach to health: Evaluating the evidence for prioritizing well-being over weight loss. Journal Of Obesity
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