Ethical issues identified from the review of research proposals by the Australian Defence Human Research Ethics Committee (ADHREC) 2005 – 2007.
The responsibility for the institutional review of research projects rests ultimately with the institutional Human research Ethics Committee (HREC). HRECs in Australia are established in accordance with the principles and guidelines defined by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Requirements are set out for: • institutions or organisations in establishing HRECs; • researchers in submitting research proposals to
HRECs; and HRECs in considering and reaching decisions regarding those proposals and in monitoring the conduct of approved research.
Institutions through the relevant HREC need tosatisfy themselves of the ethical conduct of a research proposal before giving approval to proceed. The NHMRC National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans states that the primary role of an HREC is to protect the welfare and the rights of participants in research. ADHREC routinely reviews at least 50 submissions per year. As such, they are aware of a number of ethical issues of which
researchers should be aware. These include – • Recruitment/Consent – must include sufficient opportunity for subject consideration, minimized possibility of coercion, language understandable to subject, no language waiving or appearing to waive the subject’s legal rights, and no language releasing sponsor, institution or researcher from liability for negligence • “Captive” Nature of Defence personnel – Defence personnel are in dependant, hierarchical relationships. The NHMRC classify defence personnel as “At Risk” subjects. • Quantitation of risk • Benefits to Defence – ADHREC has also recognized the potential for exploitation of ADF personnel and the ADF generally • Command approval – Before any research project involving defence personnel is undertaken appropriate Command approval must be obtained. • Out of session approvals – Like all HREC’s in Australia, ADHREC publishes well in advance a list of its proposed meeting dates. • Project funding and support – Defence faces the same pressures as other organizations in minimizing overheads and expenditure. The conducting institution must not be required
to ‘subsidize’ research projects or end up contributing resources (especially personnel) which are not reimbursed.
This presentation will focus on the specific deficiencies identified over the past two years, especially those that occur on a frequent basis.
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