Ethical issues in using the internet to engage participants in family and child research: A scoping review

Bringing rigor in contextual objectivity: lessons from applying feminist lens in scoping the evidence on girlhood studies in Indonesia

This perspective paper contemplates the nuances of engaging with literature ethically in conducting a scoping review based on the researchers' project on girlhood studies in Indonesia. We assert that the ethical perspective extends beyond conventional primary data collection from human participants, further emphasizing the essence of a feminist methodology in this scholarly investigation. We discuss the interplay between the role of rigor and the dynamics of power relations in research, shedding light on reconciling between the pursuit of facts and acknowledgment of biases in knowledge production. This reflection offers insights into the methodological process and the researcher's role, contributing to the broader discourse on how research can effectively address issues of gender equity and social inclusion. Through this paper, we underscore the necessity of an intentional approach in unifying the domains of science and advocacy because only then can we truly catalyze transformative change. In doing so, we seek to foster a more comprehensive, objective, and empathetic understanding of the researched: in this case, the experiences of girls and young women -and, by extension, marginalized individuals in Indonesia and beyond.

Locating longitudinal study participants 10 years after last contact: Contemporary approaches to sample retention

AIMS

Despite their advantages, longitudinal studies often face high rates of attrition. This study documents the extensive efforts associated with retaining a longitudinal cohort last contacted 10 years earlier.

METHOD

We examine the processes and outcomes of attempts to reach 1736 individuals who have been part of a multiwave study about growing up in Ontario, Canada. Contact methods include email, phone, text, social media, postal mail, announcements in newspapers, subway stations, and music streaming services.

RESULTS

Challenges included a lack of consistent annual communication with participants, children moving out of the parental home, and changes in email addresses and phone numbers. The most effective contact method was phone; text messages and friend referrals were the least effective. Overall, 41.5% of the original sample was reached. Locating former research participants years later necessitated multiple and repeated contact attempts, and intensive human resources.

CONCLUSION

Ten lessons for effective sample retention are discussed. In summary, reducing attrition depends on a comprehensive study design and an organized and flexible protocol that adapts to a study's ever-changing needs.

Can everyone hear me? Reflections on the use of global online workshops for promoting inclusive knowledge generation

Online research methods have risen in popularity over recent decades, particularly in the wake of COVID-19. We conducted five online workshops capturing the experiences of participatory health researchers in relation to power, as part of a collaborative project to develop global knowledge systems on power in participatory health research. These workshops included predominantly academic researchers working in 24 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Here, we reflect on the opportunities, limitations, and key considerations of using online workshops for knowledge generation and shared learning. The online workshop approach offers the potential for cross-continental knowledge exchange and for the amplification of global South voices. However, this study highlights the need for deeper exploration of power dynamics exposed by online platform use, particularly the 'digital divide' between academic partners and community co-researchers. Further research is needed to better understand the role of online platforms in generating more inclusive knowledge systems.

Participant Recruitment Issues in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinical Trials with a Focus on Prevention Programs: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Literature

Introduction: There is a strong need to conduct rigorous and robust trials for children and adolescents in mental health settings. One of the main barriers to meeting this requirement is the poor recruitment rate. Effective recruitment strategies are crucial for the success of a clinical trial, and therefore, we reviewed recruitment strategies in clinical trials on children and adolescents in mental health with a focus on prevention programs. Methods: We reviewed the literature by searching PubMed/Medline, the Cochrane Library database, and Web of Science through December 2022 as well as the reference lists of relevant articles. We included only studies describing recruitment strategies for pediatric clinical trials in mental health settings and extracted data on recruitment and completion rates. Results: The search yielded 13 studies that enrolled a total of 14,452 participants. Overall, studies mainly used social networks or clinical settings to recruit participants. Half of the studies used only one recruitment method. Using multiple recruitment methods (56.6%, 95%CI: 24.5–86.0) resulted in higher recruitment. The use of monetary incentives (47.0%, 95%CI: 24.6–70.0) enhanced the recruitment rate but not significantly (32.6%, 95%CI: 15.7–52.1). All types of recruitment methods showed high completion rates (82.9%, 95%CI: 61.7–97.5) even though prevention programs showed the smallest recruitment rate (76.1%, 95%CI: 50.9–94.4). Conclusions: Pediatric mental health clinical trials face many difficulties in recruitment. We found that these trials could benefit from faster and more efficient recruitment of participants when more than one method is implemented. Social networks can be helpful where ethically possible. We hope the description of these strategies will help foster innovation in recruitment for pediatric studies in mental health.

Secondary teachers' competencies and attitude: A mediated multigroup model based on usefulness and enjoyment to examine the differences between key dimensions of STEM teaching practice

This research explores the mediating role of perceived usefulness and enjoyment of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching practice between secondary teachers' competencies and attitudes in the formal educational context. Also, the research aimed to examine if the relationships between model constructs differ by STEM teaching practice dimension (e.g., Inquiry-based learning (IBL) and Integration of STEM content (INT)). We synthesized the will, skill, tool model (WST), technology acceptance model (TAM) and flow theory (FLT) to develop a theoretical model predicting teacher attitude under the influence of Competencies, Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Enjoyment. Therefore, a mediated multigroup model with validated data from three hundred Romanian secondary teachers who completed questionnaires related to their competencies, perceived usefulness, enjoyment, and attitude toward STEM teaching practices was used. Two comparative teacher survey studies were carried out: one for IBL and one for INT. There are direct and positive relationships between Competencies and Attitude, Competencies and Enjoyment, Competencies and Usefulness, and Enjoyment and Attitude for both IBL and INT teaching practices. The partial least squares path modeling (PLS-SEM) results showed that the control variables had no significant impact on attitude. This research supports evidence for the belief that teachers' competency is a key predictor of attitude. Precisely, the positive strong direct effect of Competencies on Attitude is similar for IBL (β = 0.49, t = 7.46, p < 0.001; f 2 (Effect size) = 0.29) with for INT teaching practice (β = 0.46, t = 6.46, p < 0.001; f2 (Effect size) = 0.22). Interestingly, this research showed that the perceived Usefulness and Enjoyment partially mediated the association between Competencies and Attitude in both case studies. Understanding the mediating role of perceived usefulness and enjoyment for each STEM practice would help teachers successfully implement STEM education.

Research behind a webcam: an exploration of virtual interviewing with children and young people

BACKGROUND

Societal use of digital technology rapidly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Face-to-face services converted to online provision where possible. This affected many nurse researchers.

AIM

To explore conducting research interviews online with children and young people (CYP) about sensitive topics.

DISCUSSION

This article considers digital inclusion, as well as ethical issues surrounding safety, support and consent, along with choosing tools for collecting data. It also presents a discussion of physical proximity in qualitative interviews with this population and its role in data quality. The authors investigate benefits in the context of researchers' personal experiences. They acknowledge the disadvantages of conducting interviews online and discuss ways to mitigate these.

CONCLUSION

The advantages for researchers include cost-effectiveness, time-efficiency and greater geographical reach of participants. However, CYP's perspectives are unknown and the specific ethical issues of using this method with CYP need careful consideration.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

More research is needed to examine virtual interviews from the perspectives of CYP as participants. Virtual acquisition of consent and assent should be investigated to standardise good research practices.

Challenges in Developmental Psychology Research During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic brought a series of restructurings necessary for research in Developmental Psychology. The aim of the manuscript is to discuss adaptations we made in our research in this context during the COVID-19 pandemic and to present strategies to adequate research protocols originally designed to occur in person. Although some contexts do not allow the continuity of studies, research at this time can bring essential contributions in this extreme period. This article explores the strategies for adapting recruitment procedures, suggesting dissemination platforms, and using social networks for this purpose. Guidelines are suggested for conducting non-face-to-face interviews with caregivers, ways of assessing the interaction of the mother-child pairs, and problematizing ethical issues. The procedures for returning the results, an ethical researcher commitment, may be improved by resources such as automatic reports. Besides, strategies for better dissemination of the results for the participants are suggested.

Social Media and Clinical Trials in Pediatric Disease: Musings From the Bench

The use of social media in clinical trials, for recruiting and retention as well as for collecting data, has become increasingly common. However, little has been documented in respect to the guidelines for its use and the possible effects it may have on clinical trials. In this review, we provide an overview of the guidance that has been published and muse the pros and cons of the use of social media in trials for rare disease.

The Ethical Implications of Using Social Media to Engage and Retain Justice-Involved Youth in Behavioral Health Research

Given its popularity among youth ages 13-17, social media is a promising avenue for engaging and retaining historically hard-to-reach youth in longitudinal research. Social media use in longitudinal research involving youth, however, has preceded development of best practices for ethical use. This article describes the ethical challenges and considerations of using social media to engage and retain youth within the context of a randomized controlled trial of a group-based adolescent substance use intervention. Best practices for addressing ethical challenges are also provided using the Belmont Principle as a guiding framework. As social media becomes more commonly used to engage and retain youth in clinical research studies, researchers must address emerging ethical concerns within project protocols.

Collecting Social Media Information in a Substance Use Intervention Trial With Adolescent Girls With Lifetime Substance Use History: Observational Study

Background

Adolescents with juvenile legal system contact face numerous barriers to participation in behavioral health intervention research, including housing disruption, legal privacy concerns, and systems mistrust. Technology, such as social media, may be a novel and developmentally appropriate adolescent research study engagement and retention tool.

Objective

We examined data on social media information collected for study retention purposes from adolescents participating in a substance use intervention trial.

Methods

Data were collected as part of a randomized controlled trial determining efficacy of a group-based substance use intervention for girls and young women (12-24 years) with substance use histories referred from legal and school systems in the United States. Baseline demographic and social media information was analyzed from the subset of 114 adolescent girls (mean age 15.7 years; range 13-18 years), of whom 31.6% (36/114) were legally involved, 87.7% (100/114) belonged to minoritized racial/ethnic groups, and 32.5% (37/114) received public assistance.

Results

Most girls (74/114, 64.9%) provided at least one social media account (Instagram, 95% [70/74]; Facebook, 27% [20/74]; and Twitter, 11% [8/74]) during study enrollment. Legally involved girls were significantly less likely to provide social media information than school-referred girls (44% [16/36] versus 74% [58/78]; χ²₁ [N=114]=9.68, P=.002).

Conclusions

Obtaining social media information for study retention purposes from adolescent girls with lifetime substance use appears possible; however, particular subgroups (ie, legally involved girls) may be less likely to provide accounts. Factors shaping legally involved girls’ willingness to provide social media information, including mistrust and privacy concerns, and the impact of researcher’s access to social media information on study retention are critical directions for future research.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02293057; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02293057

Ethical issues in participatory arts methods for young people with adverse childhood experiences

Context

Participatory arts‐based methods such as photovoice, drama and music have increasingly been used to engage young people who are exposed to psychosocial risks. These methods have the potential to empower youth and provide them with an accessible and welcoming environment to express and manage difficult feelings and experiences. These effects are, however, dependent on the way these methods are implemented and how potential ethical concerns are handled.

Objective

Using the current literature on arts‐based health research as a foundation, this paper examines ethical issues emerging from participatory arts methods with young people with traumatic experiences.

Results

We present a typology covering relevant issues such as power, accessibility, communication, trust and ownership, across the domains of partnership working, project entry, participation and dissemination. Drawing on our extensive clinical and research experiences, existing research and novel in‐practice examples, we offer guidance for ethical dilemmas that might arise at different phases of research.

Conclusion

Adequate anticipation and consideration of ethical issues, together with the involvement of young people, will help ensure that arts methods are implemented in research and practice with young people in a fair, meaningful and empowering way.

Patient or Public Contribution

The issues reviewed are largely based on the authors' experience conducting participatory research. Each of the projects referenced has its own systems for PPI including, variously, consultations with advisory groups, coproduction, youth ambassadors and mentor schemes. One of the coauthors, Josita Kavitha Thirumalai, is a young person trained in peer support and has provided extensive input across all stages.

iResponse: An AI and IoT-Enabled Framework for Autonomous COVID-19 Pandemic Management

SARS-CoV-2, a tiny virus, is severely affecting the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of our planet, causing infections and deaths (2,674,151 deaths, as of 17 March 2021), relationship breakdowns, depression, economic downturn, riots, and much more. The lessons that have been learned from good practices by various countries include containing the virus rapidly; enforcing containment measures; growing COVID-19 testing capability; discovering cures; providing stimulus packages to the affected; easing monetary policies; developing new pandemic-related industries; support plans for controlling unemployment; and overcoming inequalities. Coordination and multi-term planning have been found to be the key among the successful national and global endeavors to fight the pandemic. The current research and practice have mainly focused on specific aspects of COVID-19 response. There is a need to automate the learning process such that we can learn from good and bad practices during pandemics and normal times. To this end, this paper proposes a technology-driven framework, iResponse, for coordinated and autonomous pandemic management, allowing pandemic-related monitoring and policy enforcement, resource planning and provisioning, and data-driven planning and decision-making. The framework consists of five modules: Monitoring and Break-the-Chain, Cure Development and Treatment, Resource Planner, Data Analytics and Decision Making, and Data Storage and Management. All modules collaborate dynamically to make coordinated and informed decisions. We provide the technical system architecture of a system based on the proposed iResponse framework along with the design details of each of its five components. The challenges related to the design of the individual modules and the whole system are discussed. We provide six case studies in the paper to elaborate on the different functionalities of the iResponse framework and how the framework can be implemented. These include a sentiment analysis case study, a case study on the recognition of human activities, and four case studies using deep learning and other data-driven methods to show how to develop sustainability-related optimal strategies for pandemic management using seven real-world datasets. A number of important findings are extracted from these case studies.

Ethical considerations regarding the inclusion of children in nursing research

Evidence-based nursing practice is based on three pillars: the available research, known preferences of the patient or patient group and the professional experience of the nurse. For all pillars, research is the tool to expand the evidence we have, but when implementing evidence-based practice in paediatric nursing two of the pillars demand that children are included as respondents: practice research on the nursing interventions in paediatrics and the preferences of patients, something recognized by scholars and practitioners. But including a vulnerable group as children in nursing research raises specific ethical issues that need to be considered by researchers. What are ethical considerations that are currently raised about doing research with children and what do we learn by synthesizing the narrative of these studies of why the issues are raised and which solutions can be offered for these issues? In this article, considerations on three ethical principles according to the Belmont report are described by examining recent research. Twenty-one studies were found addressing relevant ethical aspects including vulnerability, gaining consent, designing quantitative or qualitative research methods and considerations regarding the execution of the study. Ethical considerations should be much more a case of continuous awareness and attitude, then box-ticking exercise, although there are sufficient international guidelines available specifically for research that includes children to aid researchers.

Leveraging Interdisciplinary Teams to Develop and Implement Secure Websites for Behavioral Research: Applied Tutorial

Behavioral researchers are increasingly using interactive digital platforms, either as standalone or supplementary intervention tools, to facilitate positive changes in research participants’ health habits. Research-oriented interactive websites optimally offer a variety of participatory mediums, such as blogs, user-driven content, or health activities. Owing to the multidirectional features of interactive websites, and a corresponding need to protect research participants’ identity and data, it is paramount that researchers design ethical platforms that ensure privacy and minimize loss of anonymity and confidentiality. Authentication (ie, digital verification of one’s identity) of interactive sites is one viable solution to these concerns. Although previous publications have addressed ethical requirements related to authenticated platforms, few applied guidelines in the literature facilitate adherence to ethical principles and legally compliant study protocols during all phases of research website creation (feasibility, design, implementation, and maintenance). Notably, to remain compliant with ethical standards and study protocols, behavioral researchers must collaborate with interdisciplinary teams to ensure that the authenticated site remains secure and usable in all stages of the project. In this tutorial, we present a case study conducted at a large research university. Through iterative and practical recommendations, we detail lessons learned from collaborations with the Institutional Review Board, legal experts, and information technology teams. Although the intricacies of our applied tutorial may require adaptations based on each institution’s technological capacity, we are confident that the core takeaways are universal and thus useful to behavioral researchers creating ethically responsible and compliant interactive websites.

Ethical considerations referred to in child health research published in leading nursing journals: 2015-2019

BACKGROUND

Child health research comprises complex ethical considerations. Understanding the extent to which the ethical process is reported in child health research is needed to improve reporting.

AIMS

To identify reportage of ethical considerations in child health research in leading nursing and paediatric journals.

METHODS

All child health research published between 2015 and 2019 in 10 leading nursing journals and two paediatric journals were retrieved and critically appraised for the reportage of informed consent and ethical approval.

RESULTS

Eight hundred and fifty-one child health research papers were included. Although 544 (79.9%) of the prospective studies mentioned informed consent, only 300 (55.2%) reported that written informed consent was obtained from the participants. Overall, 748 (87.9%) of child health research papers noted obtaining research ethics committee approval. Articles that mentioned financial support were significantly more likely to report informed consent and ethical approval than unfunded studies (all P < 0.001). Prospective studies showed higher rates of reportage of ethical approval compared to retrospective studies (P = 0.027). Rates of child consent (assent) obtained in different age groups of children ranged from 29.6% to 66.3%.

CONCLUSION

Despite improvements in the reportage of ethical review and approval processes in child health research, consistent and transparent reports are still lacking.

Exploring the ethical issues in research using digital data collection strategies with minors: A scoping review

While emerging digital health technologies offer researchers new avenues to collect real-time data, little is known about current ethical dimensions, considerations, and challenges that are associated with conducting digital data collection in research with minors. As such, this paper reports the findings of a scoping review which explored existing literature to canvass current ethical issues that arise when using digital data collection in research with minors. Scholarly literature was searched using electronic academic databases for articles that provided explicit ethical analysis or presented empirical research that directly addressed ethical issues related to digital data collection used in research with minors. After screening 1,156 titles and abstracts, and reviewing 73 full-text articles, 20 articles were included in this review. Themes which emerged across the reviewed literature included: consent, data handling, minors' data rights, observing behaviors that may result in risk of harm to participants or others, private versus public conceptualizations of data generated through social media, and gatekeeping. Our findings indicate a degree of uncertainty which invariably exists with regards to the ethics of research that involves minors and digital technology. The reviewed literature suggests that this uncertainty can often lead to the preclusion of minors from otherwise important lines of research inquiry. While uncertainty warrants ethical consideration, increased ethical scrutiny and restricting the conduct of such research raises its own ethical challenges. We conclude by discussing and recommending the ethical merits of co-producing ethical practice between researchers and minors as a mechanism to proceed with such research while addressing concerns around uncertainty.

Challenges and Strategies for Conducting Research With Grandparent-Grandchild Dyads

BACKGROUND

Given a marked increase in the number of grandparents who play a caregiving role for their grandchildren, there is a parallel urgency for more research involving grandparent-grandchild dyads.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to describe methodological challenges we encountered when conducting grandparent-grandchild dyadic research, some of which were challenges specific to working with dyads where the grandparents were caregivers to the child participants and others, which were challenges of a sort that might be encountered in any research involving data collection with multigenerational family units and, in particular, multigenerational family units including older adults.

METHODS

During and after an observational study conducted by the researchers involving grandparent-grandchild dyads, we explored challenges we encountered and strategies for improving our research outcomes.

RESULTS

We found several challenges specific to grandparent-grandchild dyads, including complications with reaching legal guardians to obtain permission for child participants; collecting accelerometer data from grandchildren was difficult, particularly if the grandparents did not live with their grandchildren; and participants who had various preferences for data collection methods. We also found challenges that might be found with any family context dyadic research, particularly involving older adults and across multiple generations, including relatively low follow-up response rates from those grandparents who initially expressed interest and a need for an extended data collection period. We employed targeted strategies to overcome those obstacles, and in this article, we describe the outcomes of those strategies.

DISCUSSION

Recommendations from our results include the following: (a) find a way to involve the parents and/or legal guardian as early as possible, (b) have multiple team members involved in recruitment/data collection, (c) be flexible about data collection methods, (d) use flexible scheduling, and (e) use multiple simultaneous recruitment activities/multiple advertisement channels. Additional strategies include enhancing children's sense of control during the consent process, simplifying study procedures, considering usability when creating online data surveys, and identifying power dynamics within the families.

CONCLUSION

The insights we gained will be useful for informing future family context dyadic research, in particular, research involving grandparent-grandchild dyads.

Ethical Considerations in Using Social Media to Engage Research Participants: Perspectives of Australian Researchers and Ethics Committee Members

Researchers increasingly use social media (SM) to recruit, retain, and trace participants, yet empirical literature investigating the ethics of engaging participants via SM is lacking. We conducted a survey of 401 Australian researchers and human research ethics committee (HREC) members to examine their experience, attitudes, and ethical concerns toward engaging participants via SM. Data revealed that researchers and HREC members share similar concerns and attitudes about using SM in general and in research. We identified a strong demand for additional support, training, and guidance on SM research ethics. This need reflects researchers' and HREC members' limited confidence and knowledge of ethical issues in this context and a lack of awareness of available SM-specific ethical guidelines.