title: Development and oversight of ethical health promotion quality assurance and evaluation activities involving human participants.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper considers the role of ethics and ethics review processes in the development of health promotion quality assurance and evaluation activities involving human participants.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and associated documents provide the framework for the ethical conduct and independent review of research (including quality assurance and evaluation) involving humans in Australia. Identifying the level of risk to which participants may be exposed by participation in quality assurance and evaluation activities is essential for health promotion workers undertaking such activities. Organisations can establish processes other than review by a Human Research Ethics Committee for negligible and low risk research activities. Health promotion quality assurance and evaluation activities often involve negligible and low risk to participants. Seven triggers that indicate the need for ethics review of quality assurance and evaluation activities and a procedural checklist for developing ethical quality assurance and evaluation activities are provided.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health promotion workers should be familiar with the NHMRC's National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. When ethical considerations underpin the planning and conduct of all quality assurance and evaluation from the very beginning, the activity is the better for it, independent 'ethics approval' can mostly be secured without much trouble and workers' frustration levels are reduced. So what? Health promotion quality assurance and evaluation activities must be ethically justified. Health promotion workers should be familiar with the NHMRC's National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and should use it when developing health promotion quality assurance and evaluation activities.
authors.affiliation: Population Health, South Western Sydney Local Health District, Locked Bag 7279, Liverpool, NSW 1871, Australia. Email.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sainsbury
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D028744:Ethics Committees, Research / Q000941:ethics*; D032984:Ethics, Research; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000941:ethics*; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000941:ethics*; D035842:Research Subjects