Not available / text

Not available / text

published_or_final_version / Journalism and Media Studies Centre / Master / Master of Journalism

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

No description available.

This study investigated the Ethic, Law, and Human rights (ELH) dilemmas of researchers involved in preparing for and/or conducting HVTs in African countries. Furthermore it investigated availability of ELH material resources and infrastructure necessary for the successful conduct of HVTs. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The main ethical challenges that researchers face when conducting HVTs include; high seroconversion rates, determining social value, working collaboratively with participants and communities, and paying trial participants. Legal challenges faced by researchers included; termination of participants who meet study inclusion criteria due to demands to do so from their parents and/or male partners, and in some countries lack of support from health care service providers when it comes to caring form trial participants. Understanding of consent age in African countries by communities was reported as a human right concern for researchers. The study concludes that researchers conducting or preparing to conduct HVTs in African countries face different ethics, law and human rights challenges when conducting HVTs at their sites and these challenges need to be addressed in order to improve the conduct of HVTs in Africa.

Research in resource-limited, multi-cultural contexts raises complex ethical concerns. The term ‘over-researched community’ (ORC) has increasingly been raised as an ethical concern and potential barrier to community participation in research. However, the term lacks conceptual clarity and is omitted from established ethical guidelines and academic literature. In light of the concern being raised in relation to vitally needed HIV prevention research in developing countries, a critical exploration of the meaning of the notion was undertaken. Guided by Emanuel et al.’s (2004) eight principles for ethically sound research in developing countries, this study explored the relevance and meaning of the terms ‘over-research’ and ‘over-researched community’ through a thorough review of ethical guidance documents and analysis of key stakeholder perspectives. In-depth interviews were conducted with 23 resource persons from research ethics committees, community advisory boards and research organisations in South Africa. Interviews were transcribed and translated where necessary and data were analysed thematically. ‘Over-research’ was found to reflect a conglomeration of ethical concerns, often being used as a proxy for existing ethical concepts. ‘Over-research’ might be interpreted to mean exploitation. However, exploitation itself could mean a range of different things. ‘Over-research’ seemed fundamentally linked to disparate positions and perspectives between different stakeholders in the research interaction, arising from challenges in inter-stakeholder relationships. Analysis of the data suggests that using the term may lead to an obscured understanding of real or perceived ethical transgressions, making it difficult to intervene to address the underlying concerns. It is recommended that the term not be used in research ethics discourse. However, because it represents other legitimate concerns, it should not be dismissed without careful exploration. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

The informal breach of client confidentiality by psychologists was discussed in relation to various issues in professionalism and professional ethics, both in general and in the South African context. lnformal breaches of client confidentiality were identified as a common by under researched form of ethical malpractice, and nominated as the dependent variable in this study. Different emphases in ethical education were discussed in relation to various theories of moral thinking and moral action (particularly the 'levels' theory of moral thinking of R.M. Hare), and identified as an independent variable for the empirical portion of the study. A second independent variable, of countertransference responses by psychologists to clients, was also identified and discussed. A purpose-developed postal questionnaire was administered to a sample of South African clinical, counselling, and educational psychologists to assess the incidence of informal breaches of confidentiality in a South African sample, as well as the relationship between the variables. Although a high incidence of informal breaches of confidentiality was reported by the sample, and indirect support for Hare's levels theory of moral thinking found, the results did not demonstrate a significant relationship between the independent and dependent variables. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.