Your letter was very well written and provided at least two ethically viable
responses to the dilemma. I, also, wrote a letter in regards to the young adult with
special needs. I feel to assess this issue appropriately, we need more information.
Although the young adult has severe learning disabilities does not necessarily
mean she is incompetent in being able to respond to the study in question. It also
depends on what the study is in regards to. With little information provided in this
case, I wrote a letter in favor of letting the young adult participants.
b b b b b b b b b b I believe the young adult in question should be allowed to participate in
the research project. Even though the young adult may have severe learning
difficulties, she is legally is an adult at 18 years old and she should be shown
respect by allowing her to participate in the research as outlined in the APA
Principle E: Respect for People's Rights and Dignity (Jackson, 2016). To further
support the APA principle E, Section 8.02 Informed Consent to Research, from the
APA Code of Conduct provides an outline to obtaining consent from an adult.
b b b b b b b b b b I also mentioned section 3.01 Unfair Discrimination, from the APA Code
of Conduct. The APA principle that supports this section is principle D: Justice.
Fairness and justice entitle all people to access and benefit from the
contributions of psychology and to equal quality in the processes, procedures,
and services being conducted by the research (Jackson, 2016).
I can see the complicated nature of this situation and how this can appear more
gray than a black-or-white solution. I currently see the best solution to this
situation is your second proposal. As a psychologist, you are expected to gather
informed consent from eligible participants in your study (3.10 Informed Consent,
APA, 2017). In this situation, the student requesting involvement appears to be
lacking capacity-related cognitive abilities described by the National Bioethics
Advisory Commission (2001). In considering standard 3.10 Informed Consent and
the NBAC (2001) description.
Now, despite the student’s current ineligibility to participate in the study currently,
further conversation with the student’s parents would be the most viable way to
gain the student’s participation in your study. As you continue to process and
decide the best way to proceed with describing the reasoning behind not allowing
the student to participate in the study, perhaps future studies of the same type
could be limited to students under the age of 18. Alternatively, while also creating
potential areas of concern and ethical complications, utilization of control and
experimental groups may be a method to be used and place adult students
unable to provide informed consent in the control group. As with your current
student, when parental consent is required, deciding the appropriate levels of
deception and disclosure to parents must be balanced with Principle E Respect
for People’s Rights and Dignity, 3.04 Avoiding Harm, and Principle of Beneficence
and Nonmaleficence should be identified.
I commend you on identifying the ethical dilemmas you are faced with as well as
making the decision to reach out for guidance. It appears you have a foundation
in which you operate ethically and were faced with an unforeseen circumstance.
As with research, this often happens. Continue working this direction and feel free
to run any potential solutions or decisions you are unsure of by me in the future.
References
American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists
and code of conduct (2002, amended effective June 1, 2010, and January 1,
2017). https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/
Jackson, S. (2016). Research Methods and Statistics: A Critical Thinking Approach
(5th ed.). Cengage Learning
