Question 1
Question :
A therapist at a free university clinic treats elementary school children with behavior problems who are referred by a social service agency. She is also a doctoral candidate who proposes using data she has and will collect about the children for a case-based research project. Which of the following statements about parental permission is correct?
Your answer : The parents of the children might feel pressure to give permission to the therapist to use their children's data so that she will continue to provide services to their children.
Correct Answer : The parents of the children might feel pressure to give permission to the therapist to use their children's data so that she will continue to provide services to their children.
Comment :
When a care provider becomes a researcher, both the child clients and their parents may not feel free to choose not to participate in the provider's study. A researcher who is also a care provider needs to be very clear that a decision not to participate in a study, or to allow records to be used, will not affect the care provided in the future. The fact that the therapist has access to her clients' records as a clinician does not entitle her to use information in the records for research purposes without parental permission and child assent. A school authority's permission to conduct the research does not replace the need for permission or assent. Finally, the children's right to choose cannot be overridden in the pursuit of an indeterminate community interest.
Points Earned : 1
Question 2
Question :
A general requirement for informed consent is that no informed consent may include any exculpatory language. Exculpatory language is that which waives or appears to waive any of the subject's legal rights or releases or appears to release those conducting the research from liability for negligence.