Ethical issues in psychiatric research on children and adolescents.
Psychiatric research on children and adolescents is ethically justified by the need to reduce the burden that mental illnesses place on young people, their families, and society. Such research must be conducted with careful attention to the ethical principles of beneficence, justice, and respect for persons. Child and adolescent psychiatrists who collaborate on research trials or advise patients and families about research participation should consider nine domains when evaluating the ethical acceptability of particular protocols. These domains include scientific merit and design; expertise, commitment, and integrity; risks and benefits; confidentiality; participant selection and recruitment; informed consent and decisional capacity; incentives; institution and peer/professional review; and data presentation. Special ethical issues in child and adolescent psychiatry research concern the use of randomized, controlled treatment trials; the informed consent process for research involving adolescents; the therapeutic misconception; and conflicts of interest in physician referrals.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA. jhoop@mcw.edu
Jinger G
JG
Hoop
Angela C
AC
Smyth
Laura Weiss
LW
Roberts
D000293:Adolescent; D000296:Adolescent Psychiatry / Q000941:ethics*; D002648:Child; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000941:ethics*; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D032984:Ethics, Research; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000941:ethics; D035842:Research Subjects / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States