Ethical Challenges that Arise at the Community Interface of Health Research: Village Reporters’ Experiences in Western Kenya
Abstract
Community Engagement (CE) has been presented by bio‐ethicists and scientists as a straightforward and unequivocal good which can minimize the risks of exploitation and ensure a fair distribution of research benefits in developing countries. By means of ethnographic fieldwork undertaken in Kenya between 2007 and 2009 we explored how CE is understood and enacted in paediatric vaccine trials conducted by the Kenyan Medical Research Institute and the US Centers for Disease Control (KEMRI/CDC). In this paper we focus on the role of paid volunteers who act as an interface between villagers KEMRI/CDC. Village Reporters...
Source: Developing World Bioethics - March 22, 2013 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Tracey Chantler, Faith Otewa, Peter Onyango, Ben Okoth, Frank Odhiambo, Michael Parker, Paul Wenzel Geissler Tags: ARTICLE Source Type: research
‘She's My Sister‐In‐Law, My Visitor, My Friend’ – Challenges of Staff Identity in Home Follow‐Up in an HIV Trial in Western Kenya
Abstract
Identities ascribed to research staff in face‐to‐face encounters with participants have been raised as key ethical challenge in transnational health research. ‘Misattributed’ identities that do not just deviate from researchers' self‐image, but obscure unequivocal aspects of researcher identity – e.g. that they are researchers – are a case of such ethical problem. Yet, the reasonable expectation of unconcealed identity can conflict with another ethical premise: confidentiality; this poses challenges to staff visiting participants at home. We explore these around a case study of ‘follow‐up’ staf...
Source: Developing World Bioethics - March 22, 2013 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Philister Adhiambo Madiega, Gemma Jones, Ruth Jane Prince, Paul Wenzel Geissler Tags: ARTICLE Source Type: research
Field Workers at the Interface
(Source: Developing World Bioethics)
Source: Developing World Bioethics - March 22, 2013 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Sassy Molyneux, Dorcas Kamuya, Philister Adhiambo Madiega, Tracey Chantler, Vibian Angwenyi, P. Wenzel Geissler Tags: EDITORIAL Source Type: research
Evolving Friendships and Shifting Ethical Dilemmas: Fieldworkers’ Experiences in a Short Term Community Based Study in Kenya
Abstract
Fieldworkers (FWs) are community members employed by research teams to support access to participants, address language barriers, and advise on culturally appropriate research conduct. The critical role that FWs play in studies, and the range of practical and ethical dilemmas associated with their involvement, is increasingly recognised. In this paper, we draw on qualitative observation and interview data collected alongside a six month basic science study which involved a team of FWs regularly visiting 47 participating households in their homes. The qualitative study documented how relationships between field wor...
Source: Developing World Bioethics - February 21, 2013 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Dorcas M. Kamuya, Sally J. Theobald, Patrick K. Munywoki, Dorothy Koech, Wenzel P. Geissler, Sassy C. Molyneux Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Feedback of Research Findings for Vaccine Trials: Experiences From Two Malaria Vaccine Trials Involving Healthy Children on the Kenyan Coast
Abstract
Internationally, calls for feedback of findings to be made an ‘ethical imperative’ or mandatory have been met with both strong support and opposition. Challenges include differences in issues by type of study and context, disentangling between aggregate and individual study results, and inadequate empirical evidence on which to draw. In this paper we present data from observations and interviews with key stakeholders involved in feeding back aggregate study findings for two Phase II malaria vaccine trials among children under the age of 5 years old on the Kenyan Coast. In our setting, feeding back of aggregate...
Source: Developing World Bioethics - February 21, 2013 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Caroline Gikonyo, Dorcas Kamuya, Bibi Mbete, Patricia Njuguna, Ally Olotu, Philip Bejon, Vicki Marsh, Sassy Molyneux Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Engaging Communities to Strengthen Research Ethics in Low‐Income Settings: Selection and Perceptions of Members of a NETWork of Representatives in Coastal Kenya
Abstract
There is wide agreement that community engagement is important for many research types and settings, often including interaction with ‘representatives’ of communities. There is relatively little published experience of community engagement in international research settings, with available information focusing on Community Advisory Boards or Groups (CAB/CAGs), or variants of these, where CAB/G members often advise researchers on behalf of the communities they represent. In this paper we describe a network of community members (‘KEMRI Community Representatives’, or ‘KCRs’) linked to a large multi‐disc...
Source: Developing World Bioethics - December 1, 2012 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Dorcas M. Kamuya, Vicki Marsh, Francis K. Kombe, P. Wenzel Geissler, Sassy C. Molyneux Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
Great Expectations: Teaching Ethics to Medical Students in South Africa
Abstract
Many academic philosophers and ethicists are appointed to teach ethics to medical students. We explore exactly what this task entails. In South Africa the Health Professions Council's curriculum for training medical practitioners requires not only that students be taught to apply ethical theory to issues and be made aware of the legal and regulatory requirements of their profession, it also expects moral formation and the inculcation of professional virtue in students. We explore whether such expectations are reasonable. We defend the claim that physicians ought to be persons of virtuous character, on the grounds ...
Source: Developing World Bioethics - December 1, 2012 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Kevin Gary Behrens, Robyn Fellingham Tags: Original Article Source Type: research
