Jacinta Tan - Psychiatric Ethics Research

I am developing a new area of research interest in the ethics of research, in particular the ethics of psychiatric research in children and young people who have mental disorders.

Medical research is essential to provide good, solid scientific evidence for medical treatment. Without good medical research, we cannot be confident that treatments we use are effective, safe and useful to people, nor can we develop new, better treatments. However, medical research usually requires that we involve people as research participants at some stage. In many cases it is necessary to involve people who are patients who actually suffer from the diseases and disorders the research is about. This may affect their treatment, for example if they are given a different medication or therapy as part of the research.

Medical research participation should always be voluntary and as informed as possible. There can be many ethical issues that occur in medical research: There are dilemmas about possible harms and benefits to participants and whether participants are giving informed consent. There can be conflicts of interests for research doctors who both need to ensure the research design is adhered to and yet care for patients as individuals, and issues of commercial gain if research is run by or research funding comes from drug companies or other sources with vested interests. Other ethical issues can arise because of existing health inequalities, for example when research represents the best or only option for treatment not otherwise available to poorer people, or when researchers from a richer country do research in a poorer country. Ethical issues can be a particular concern if research participants are legal minors, impaired in their ability to give consent, vulnerable or ill.

There have been human rights abuses in the name of medical research in the past. A strong system of regulation of research has developed since then which is designed to subject all medical research to stringent ethical and scientific scrutiny in order to protect patients and research participants. Sometimes the system can be so complex that it can hamper researchers or discourage research, but having insufficient research to support good medical treatment can be unethical in itself.

The World Medical Association first made the Declaration of Helsinki in 1964. This is a document which is often revised to keep up with advances in medicine and research. It clearly sets out the basic ethical issues and positions with respect to medical research. http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm

I have written a commentary article on the subject of ethical issues in psychiatric drug research in children and adolescents with Dr. Michael Kölch of the University of Ulm in Germany. To read the journal article, which is available free on the internet, look it up on: http://www.capmh.com/content/2/1/39


Home Anorexia nervosa research Work in Progress Ethics of Research Publications Contact	Ethics of research I am developing a new area of research interest in the ethics of research, in particular the ethics of psychiatric research in children and young people who have mental disorders. Medical research is essential to provide good, solid scientific evidence for medical treatment. Without good medical research, we cannot be confident that treatments we use are effective, safe and useful to people, nor can we develop new, better treatments. However, medical research usually requires that we involve people as research participants at some stage. In many cases it is necessary to involve people who are patients who actually suffer from the diseases and disorders the research is about. This may affect their treatment, for example if they are given a different medication or therapy as part of the research. Medical research participation should always be voluntary and as informed as possible. There can be many ethical issues that occur in medical research: There are dilemmas about possible harms and benefits to participants and whether participants are giving informed consent. There can be conflicts of interests for research doctors who both need to ensure the research design is adhered to and yet care for patients as individuals, and issues of commercial gain if research is run by or research funding comes from drug companies or other sources with vested interests. Other ethical issues can arise because of existing health inequalities, for example when research represents the best or only option for treatment not otherwise available to poorer people, or when researchers from a richer country do research in a poorer country. Ethical issues can be a particular concern if research participants are legal minors, impaired in their ability to give consent, vulnerable or ill. There have been human rights abuses in the name of medical research in the past. A strong system of regulation of research has developed since then which is designed to subject all medical research to stringent ethical and scientific scrutiny in order to protect patients and research participants. Sometimes the system can be so complex that it can hamper researchers or discourage research, but having insufficient research to support good medical treatment can be unethical in itself. The World Medical Association first made the Declaration of Helsinki in 1964. This is a document which is often revised to keep up with advances in medicine and research. It clearly sets out the basic ethical issues and positions with respect to medical research. http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm I have written a commentary article on the subject of ethical issues in psychiatric drug research in children and adolescents with Dr. Michael Kölch of the University of Ulm in Germany. To read the journal article, which is available free on the internet, look it up on: http://www.capmh.com/content/2/1/39
What is Medical Ethics? What is Psychiatric Ethics? What is Empirical Ethics Research?