The purpose of this study was to investigate student preferences for content, timing, and method of informed consent within counselor education programs. Participants included 115 students enrolled in counseling internship courses at six counseling programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Participants completed the Informed Consent Preferences Questionnaire (ICPQ), an instrument designed specifically for this study through systematic instrumentation development. Descriptive statistics highlighted participants' moderate to high ratings of perceived importance for an array of suggested content pieces for student informed consent. Participants varied among themselves and between items in relation to preferred timing of informed consent, and they consistently reported a desire for student informed consent to be facilitated through a combination of both oral and written methods. Results of exploratory factor analysis revealed a simple eight-factor structure within the ICPQ and suggested strong internal reliability. Correlations for participant scale scores for the eight factors revealed a variety of small to medium correlations. Results from t-test and one-way analysis of variances (ANOVA) indicated that participant preferences did not vary according to demographic variables. Finally, participants' qualitative responses revealed high levels of support for student informed consent. Findings of this study may aid counselor educators in evaluating current program informed consent practices. As a result of evaluation, counselor educators can affirm existing, and/or design new informed consent practices that accurately reflect the needs and desires of counseling students. Future researchers may also utilize the results to guide additional studies related to the practice of student informed consent.

Title from title page of PDF (University of Missouri--St. Louis, viewed March 9, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-61).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

Purpose: To determine which method of anesthesia risk presentation parents understand and prefer across their demographic variables Methods: As a cross-sectional study, questionnaires were distributed to 50 parents of patients (<7 years of age) in the VCU Pediatric Dental Clinic. Parents were asked of their own and their children’s demographics, previous dental and anesthesia experiences, and anesthesia understanding. Parents were then asked to rate the level of risk of several risk presentations and finally asked which method of risk presentation they most understood or preferred. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients, likelihood chi square tests, and repeated measures logistic regression. Results: There was no evidence of a differential preference due to gender (P = 0.28), age (P > .9), education (P = 0.39) or whether they incorrectly answered any risk question (P > 0.7). There was some evidence that the three types were not equally preferred (likelihood ratio chi- square = 5.31, df =2, P-value = 0.0703). The best estimate is that 60% prefer charts, 34% prefer numbers, and 36% prefer activity comparisons. There was a relationship between the average relative risk of general anesthesia and age (r = –0.38, P = 0.0070). Younger individuals indicate High risk more often and older individuals indicate Low risk more often. Conclusion: There was no preference of risk presentation type due to gender, age, or education, but there was evidence that each was not equally preferred. Healthcare providers must be able to present the risk of anesthesia in multiple ways to allow for full patient understanding.

The discipline of orthopaedic surgery is a fast growing surgical specialty directed at the diagnosis and management of disorders of the musculoskeletal system e.g. acute trauma, fractured or dislocated joints, elective reconstructive surgery as well as related research. The standard of care in orthopaedic surgery treatment reflects the status of its evolution and what is currently available in terms of the knowledge, surgical expertise, orthopaedic implant materials, and equipment. It is the duty of the orthopaedic surgeon to live up to the promise as best he or she can to heal when it is possible to heal and to provide the level of care expected that transcends simple surgical expertise and bio-technological intervention. The informed consent process is an often neglected but vital component of the standard of care which has to satisfy prescribed ethical and legal requirements. This research is focused on how to heighten the awareness of, and to encourage engagement within the orthopaedic surgery fraternity with the informed consent process. If the informed consent is given more recognition within this group, it will benefit the potentially vulnerable orthopaedic patient, protect the orthopaedic surgeon against litigation, and importantly, contribute to the ethical imperatives bound in a doctor-patient relationship. For this research, a vast search of the available local and international literature has been perused and my finding is that the application of Ethics and recognition of the informed consent concept within the medical community in general is gathering momentum and it must be both supported and internalized by those in orthopaedic surgical practice.

Informed consent is one of the most discussed issues of medical law. This thesis tries to contribute to the discussion through a comparative study between Czech law and Canadian law (the common law part of Canadian law), focusing on the basic components of the subject matter. The thesis is divided into six parts. The first one deals with information disclosure and consent to treatment in the paternalistic model and the participatory model of a doctor-patient relationship. The second part provides an overview of relevant Czech and Canadian legal sources and also of key milestones in the development of informed consent in both countries. The third part of the thesis discusses the concept of informed consent. The fourth part is focused on the disclosure - its content and scope, form and other related aspects. The fifth part of the thesis deals with the consent itself - its elements, the withdrawal of consent and the refusal to give consent. Finally, the sixth part deals with the specifics of minors. With regard to the basic features of informed consent, it can be clearly stated that the compared legal systems are fundamentally the same. Differences can be seen only when analysing the subject matter into very great detail and those differences are usually various technicalities (e.g. determination of...

Informed consent of a patient is currently one of the fastest developing subjects of medical law. Its fundamental principles are based on human anatomy and one's freedom of choice with respect to decisions concerning his or her well-being. The aim of this thesis is to present informed consent in light of the newly enacted legislation concerning medical services, to highlight some of the consequences of the new legislation, as well as to discuss certain aspects of criminal liability of medical personnel in connection with informed consent. The thesis consists of six chapters, which are further divided in to subchapters. The respective chapters outline informed consent of a patient with respect to its basic elements, associated consequences and selected aspects of potential criminal liability. Following the introduction, the first chapter describes the relationship between a doctor and a patient and identifies the upcoming trend of the transformation of the historical paternalistic relationship into a partnership. The second chapter features an overview of the both the national and the international legal sources, which govern informed consent. The third chapter represents the main focus of the thesis and describes the respective elements of an informed consent - disclosure and consent. The...

Practice and law around informed consent in healthcare have undergone a revolution for the better over recent decades. However the way we obtain informed consent remains problematic and is imbued with irreducible but not ineliminable uncertainty. The reasons for this uncertainty are varied. The uncertainty is partly due to the conceptual opacity of important core concepts. The complexity of communication in clinical encounters is another. The role of autonomy, and the changing nature of the clinician patient relationship, have also contributed to this uncertainty remaining. This thesis is not a panacea for these difficulties. However there have been two quite profound revolutions in healthcare over the last decade or so, namely, the introduction of evidence-based medicine into clinical decision making, and the institutionalization of clinical governance and the application of quality improvement philosophy. I have examined ways in which these two “movements” can help in reducing some of the uncertainty in the practice of informed consent.

The Western liberal approach to informed consent defines autonomy as an independent choice or decision made by an individual as the final authority in medical decision-making. This approach is so dominant that one can fail to see the merits of other traditional and cultural perspectives. In this dissertation, another approach to informed consent is considered -that of communal culture of Africa, a process used in African traditional medicine (ATM) wherein patients make medical decisions and give consent in consultation with the members of their community and the ATM doctor. Often, but not necessarily, the final consent rests on the consensus reached in consultation with the group rather than on that by the individual patient alone. &lt;br&gt;This dissertation argues that the ATM form of consent constitutes legitimate informed consent based on the concept of relational autonomy, commonly called relational autonomy in informed consent (RAIC) in this dissertation. To interpret and enlighten the significance of the ATM approach to RAIC, the analysis in this dissertation examines the ethics of care movement in Western bioethics which also advocates a relational approach to informed consent. This movement presents a concept of persons as relational beings who are socially embedded, thereby interpreting patient autonomy in their relationships with others. This movement provides the hermeneutic to enlighten the significance of the ATM approach as a legitimate model of RAIC. &lt;br&gt;By comparison of the ethics of care approach with that of ATM to RAIC, this dissertation further provides a relational approach to informed consent in order to inform the restrictive emphasis on individual autonomy practiced in Western bioethics, all with a view towards fostering current discourse on global bioethics. The dissertation also provides an applied example of the contribution of ATM's RAIC approach to ethics committees in Africa, focusing in particular, on the decision-making process for patient informed consent. &lt;br&gt;This dissertation is distinct insofar as it focuses on informed consent in ATM, employs ethics of care as a hermeneutic to interpret ATM, advocates integrated model of healthcare ethics committees in ATM. Because ATM forms a large portion of the healthcare systems in Africa, it follows that ATM and its practices should receive more attention in bioethics in the present global era. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Health Care Ethics / PhD; / Dissertation;