... for the child, high levels of abuse particularly sexual (Veena & Chandra 2007)
... qualitative research with adult male sex offenders. Journal of Sexual ...
Is research safe for children? A scoping review of safeguarding children in the research process.
Dr Duncan Randall, University of Birmingham, Professor Julie Taylor and Anna Anderson, University of Edinburgh
Safeguarding children in the research process
Increasing recognition of children and young people as social actors in research (Christensen & James 2008) Participatory research (QUAL) power relationships between children and researchers (Randall 2012) Post Savile? Safeguarding/ child protection Reputational risk to nursing research
Literature review methodology/method: from scoping to integrative
Inclusion – 2000-2012 – Relevant to research practices which may have implications for the safeguarding of children (including research with adults responsible for children) – Peer reviewed empirical research
Exclusion – Pre 2000 – Research on children’s abuse issues, safeguarding and family violence- clinical practice/ health and social care practice rather than research practice – Commentaries on legal and ethical issues
Search strategy cont...
Search terms (MeSH) Keywords- Child abuse OR Child welfare OR safeguarding AND ethics AND research Title word - Child AND abuse OR welfare OR safeguarding OR protection AND research ethics OR research OR research protocols OR research practice
Databases used/limits – Embase 1996 to 2012 Week 30 – Ovid MEDLINE(R) 2008 to July Week 3 2012 – PsycINFO 2002 to July Week 4 2012
PRISMA chart Identification
Records identified through electronic database search =448+170
Additional records (from reference lists)= 2
Records after duplicates removed =394+124+2
Screening
Records screened = 520
Eligibility Full text papers assessed for eligibility = 54
Included
Records excluded=466
Full text papers excluded =39 Rationale •Not relevant to research question •adult accounts of child abuse
Studies included = 15 Adapted from Moher et al 2009
Critical appraisal of the field from the reviewed papers
Wide variety of research teams, methodologies and methods including – – – – –
Large scale population surveys Interviews Case studies Review of ethical committee letters Observation studies
In some papers safeguarding given little attention i.e. not main focus of the paper Confidentiality and risk of “fantasists” Moral dilemmas of collusion in abuse
Themes emerging from the literature Social Justice and research
Transparency1 – Researchers informing participants about reporting, including research documentation consent process informing participants of the limitations of confidentiality (related to participant rights vs public health/safety but more about how, or if participant are informed of reporting procedures/practices)
Participant rights vs public health/safety – Debate, often legal between research participants rights and the public duty in safeguarding children and other vulnerable people. – Rights of family members who may, or may not be identified as research participants
1Also
relates to safer research
Themes emerging from the literature Social Justice and research
Research methods, practices and abuse – How research methods or practices could be construed as abusive, or where they mimic or resemble abusive behaviours (e.g. oppressive questioning)
Practitioner vs researcher – Issues concerning researchers as clinicians or social care practitioners and blurring of roles of researcher and clinician/practitioner
Avoidance – Designing the research in order explicitly to avoid detecting and / or reporting child abuse or other illegal/ abusive behaviour
Ethical concerns for the “vulnerable child” – Ethical opinions, frameworks and practices which view children as “vulnerable” in research in need of adult protection, which may result in some children being excluded
Themes emerging from the literature Safer research
Training needs of researchers – Training of researchers in abuse issues described or training needs identified – Including experiential learning gained as a practitioner
Safety protocols – Code of conduct/protocols described or need for such identified – Researcher safety
Ethic of care and supervision – The negotiation of ethical conduct in practice where abuse contexts are seen as complex and expert supervision is required/desirable to help researchers make referrals when required, but not to make referrals which cause distress and result in no action – That ethical frameworks and protocols are insufficient to deal with practice and judgement is required assisted by reflection
Themes emerging from the literature Safer research
Collaboration participants – Researchers working with participants to safeguard children
Collaboration services/professionals – Researchers working with service providers and or professionals “experts” etc to safeguard children
Cultural safety – Safeguarding children and abuse issues in a cultural context – Indian study family being “responsible” for the child, high levels of abuse particularly sexual (Veena & Chandra 2007)
Suggestions for research practice
Clear safety protocols which identify – Training – Reporting – Research practices- keeping people safe e.g. How, when to ask about abuse – Supervisory oversight and support
Transparent participant information – – – –
How will abuse issues be dealt with, by whom What are the limits of confidentiality Who will be considered a research participant How to raise concerns, contact details
Further debates – Is clinical safeguarding training applicable to research contexts? – Do nurse researchers respond appropriately to abuse issues?
Summary
There is a risk of reputational damage if researchers do not handle abuse issues well Required by NMC to safeguard children and other vulnerable people Can be tensions between the researcher role and that of clinician/practitioner Ethical and methodological issues need further debate Further work on supporting clinical nurse researchers and nurses involved in research with children and adults who care for children GNC bid and review of standard operating procedures
Any Questions?
[email protected]
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References
Angell E, Biggs H, Gahleitner F, Dixon-Woods M (2010) What do research ethics committees say about applications to conduct research involving children?. ADC 95(11)915-7 Carroll-Lind J, Chapman JW, Gregory J, Maxwell G. (2006) The key to the gatekeepers: Passive consent and other ethical issues surrounding the rights of children to speak on issues that concern them. Child Abuse & Neglect.30(9) 979-989 Christensen P & James A (2008) Introduction. In Research with children: perspectives and practices. Christensen P and James A, eds, Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 1-9 Cowburn M (2005) Confidentiality and public protection: Ethical dilemmas in qualitative research with adult male sex offenders. Journal of Sexual Aggression 11(1)49-63. Durham A (2002) Developing a sensitive practitioner research methodology for studying the impact of child sexual abuse. BJSW 32(4)Jun 429-442 Ensign J (2003) Ethical issues in qualitative health research with homeless youths Journal of Advanced Nursing 43(1)43-50.
References
Garland AF, McCabe KM, Yeh, M. (2008) Ethical challenges in practice-based mental health services research: Examples from research with children and families. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice15(2)118-124 Gondolf E.W (2000) Human subject issues in batterer program evaluation. Journal of Aggression Maltreatment & Trauma. 4(1)273-297 Gorin S, Hooper CA, Dyson C, Cabral C.(2008) Ethical challenges in conducting research with hard to reach families. Child Abuse Review,17(4)275-287 James RV, Kimonis ER, Donoghue C (2010) Legal, ethical, and methodological considerations in the Internet-based study of child pornography offenders. Behavioral Sciences & the Law 28(1)84-105 Johnson B (2000) Using video vignettes to evaluate children's personal safety knowledge: Methodological and ethical issues. Child Abuse & Neglect 24(6)811-827 Knight ED, Smith JB, Dubowitz H, Litrownik AJ, Kotch B, English D, Everson MD & Runyan DK (2006) Reporting participants in research studies to child protective services: Limited risk to attrition. Child Maltreatmet,11(3)257-262
References
Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG & PRISMA Group (2009) Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. British Medical Journal 339, 332-336. Randall D (2012) Revisiting Mandell's "least adult" role and engaging with children's voices in research. Nurse Researcher 19, 39-43. Ries NM, LeGrandeur J & Caulfield T( 2010) Handling ethical, legal and social issues in birth cohort studies involving genetic research: responses from studies in six countries. BMC Med Ethics11(1)4-11 Sikweyiya YM & Jewkes R. (2011) Disclosure of child murder: a case study of ethical dilemmas in research. SAMJ 101(3)164-168. Whittmore R & Knafl K (2005) The integrative review: updated methodology. Journal of Advanced Nursing 52, 546-553. Veena AS, Chandra PS (2007) A review of the ethics in research on child abuse. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 4 (3) 113-115 Ybarra ML, Langhinrichsen-Rohling J, Friend J, Diener-West M (2009) Impact of asking sensitive questions about violence to children and adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 45(5):499-507
