Ethical Issues Confront Public Health

In this week's video program, Dr. Beilenson and Dr. Crosby discussed ethical issues that confront public health researchers. Another ethical issue is that of partisanship of community partners when conducting research. When looking for effective interventions to improve the health of a community, the community wants a positive outcome just as much as the researcher. Researchers must be careful not to misinterpret research findings or to introduce bias as they examine the outcomes of their data analysis. Consider the benefits of working with community partners when conducting research. Also consider the additional ethical issues this can present.

• Discuss the ethical concerns surrounding partisanship of community partners when conducting a research study.

• What can researchers do to ensure conducting ethical research?