Pedigrees, propaganda, and paranoia: family studies in a historical context

Eugenics and photography in Britain, the USA and Australia 1870-1940

This essay traces the main ways in which photography was taken up and used by supporters of the eugenics movement, from the time that Darwin's cousin, the British polymath Francis Galton, first used it to demonstrate the role played by heredity in human intelligence, to the early 1940s, when the eugenics movement lost much of its appeal. It is argued that Galton's composite photographs of the socially "fit" and "unfit" members of British society only broadly determined the pattern for how American and Australian eugenicists deployed photography, and that each country's differing social tensions caused them to evolve their own diverse set of photographic practices aimed at promulgating the eugenic cause. Using photographic examples drawn from Britain, the USA and Australia, the essay identifies the leading persons and eugenics organisations that deployed photography, the different kinds of photographic genres they used and the different ideological and statist ends to which their images were put. It concludes that compared to Britain where class differences were highlighted, the USA and Australia's strong respective histories of slavery and colonisation led to a more robust emphasis on race and in particular the preserving of racial purity and expansion of the white population.

Protecting the privacy of third-party information: recommendations for social and behavioral health researchers

In psychosocial and health-behavioral research, we often request that research participants provide information on significant individuals in their lives, so-called "third parties". Recently there has been a greater recognition of privacy issues and risks in research pertaining to third parties. Reaction on the part of USA federal regulatory authorities to one study [Amber, D. (2000). Case at vcu bring ethics to forefront. , 14, 1], which attempted to collect survey data about the psychiatric history of respondents' parents, has generated such concern and caution that longstanding practices for the collection of social determinants of health data are being questioned and are at risk of being disallowed by Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). In this paper, we consider third party research rights and risks from the perspective of social and behavioral scientists. Focusing on research about health and quality of life, we first discuss the rationale for research methods that elicit contextual information about family members, friends, co-workers, and other social contacts. Second, we discuss the matter of 'privacy' and its central role in the current third party rights and risks dialogue. Next, we describe ways to effectively manage third-party information, building upon current recommendations by the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) and Botkin's [(2001). Protecting the privacy of family members in survey and pedigree research. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285(2), 207-211] treatment of the matter for survey and pedigree research. Lastly, we discuss the implications of applying these data collection and management strategies in social and behavioral research. We assert that these recommendations protect the rights of, and minimize the risks to, third parties without impeding social and behavioral health research.

Ethical Issues Associated with Conducting Genetic Family Studies of Complex Disease

PURPOSE

To examine subjects' recognition of the risks and ethical issues associated with enrollment in genetic family studies (GFS) and explore how this recognition affects their informed and voluntary participation.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study design including both quantitative and qualitative data was employed. Structured interviews using the Contextual Assessment Approach Questionnaire (CAA-Q) were conducted with 246 Mexican American (MA) participants. To gain in-depth understanding of questionnaire responses, semi-structured interviews with 30 participants were conducted. All participants were interviewed before their enrollment in the Family Investigation of Nephropathy and Diabetes (FIND).

RESULTS

Subjects' average age was 56 years; 62% were females. Seventy-eight percent of participants were not formally educated beyond high school and 72% reported an annual household income of < or =20,000 dollars. Eighty-five percent agreed to provide researchers with information on relatives' ages, gender, and education. Sixty-five percent of participants were willing to provide identifiable information such as names, addresses, and phone numbers of relatives. Sixty-three percent of participants indicated that there were direct benefits (i.e., supporting research) to disclosing relatives' information. Seventy-six percent stated that there were no risks associated with participation in GFS (e.g., discrimination or confidentiality of genetic information) compared with 10% who said that there were such risks. While discussing potential risks, subjects did not consider these to influence their decision to participate.

CONCLUSIONS

Subjects enrolled in GFS did not recognize and tended to underestimate the social and cultural risks associated with their participation in GFS. If subjects do not fully comprehend the risks, this raises questions concerning their ability to provide informed consent and to voluntarily participate. We propose a subject-centered approach that views enrollment as an active process in which subjects and recruiters give and receive information on risks and ethical issues related to participation, which enhances protection of the rights and welfare of subjects participating in GFS.