Undertaking ethical qualitative research in public health: are current ethical processes sufficient?

Considerations and recommendations for conducting qualitative research interviews with palliative and end-of-life care patients in the home setting: a consensus paper

“… 15 Rapport building cannot be considered in isolation without reference to the balance of power between researchers and participants. Although qualitative research may look to minimise power imbalances, 18 power relations may still exist during different stages of qualitative research, with the researcher possibly perceived as the owner of expert knowledge and especially in a population that may have unmet needs and the uncertainty of facing a terminal diagnosis. 19 The information that participants share may be further influenced by a power imbalance due to a variety of factors including gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and professional background and importantly, interview location.…”

“…It can also be easier to identify with the patient as a person in their home environment, surrounded by their personal effects, than in a clinical setting where they are more defined by their clinical situation. 10 18 This can help the researcher feel more of a connection with the patient, 18 something our researchers felt to be important not only for facilitating good quality data collection, but also in consideration of the time these patients are investing in the research. The researchers felt that the home setting may also help to balance the power between patients and researchers; patients assume a host/hostess role and may feel less restricted, able to be ‘more themselves’ and more in control of the situation.…”

“…The importance of these issues becomes all the more salient when including palliative and end-of-life patients in research and can be of particular concern to the researcher, particularly those who have a clinical background. 18 Patients may use the research study as a way to access information and clinical advice. This may be an artefact of the way in which they were accessed and approached to participate in the first place, for example, receiving an invitation letter on hospital headed paper from a researcher with the title ‘Dr’ (clinical or otherwise); appropriate framing of the encounter is essential as direct access to the relevant clinical team is not possible.…”

Perspective of patients, patients' families, and healthcare providers towards designing and delivering hospice care services in a middle income Country

“…Previous studies indicated that majority of participants had positive attitude and view toward hospice service. [ 7 10 32 33 34 ] Therefore, positive attitudes and views can be regarded as an opportunity for designing and delivering hospice care and it should be used best.…”

Ethics and health promotion within policy and practice contexts in a small jurisdiction: perspectives from the Northern Territory

“…32 A conundrum facing current ethics and health promotion discussions, and one that has rarely been discussed in health promotion scholarship, is the tension between Western knowledge systems that underpin ethics theory (which often favour a biomedical paradigm with an individualistic focus) and Indigenous knowledge systems that underpin Indigenous health promotion work (which often favour a relational paradigm with a collective focus). 33 We do not intend to explore the epistemological, ontological and axiological dimensions of the different knowledge systems in this paper, because they warrant a deeper and more detailed examination. Rather, we want to emphasise that a key component of culturally safe Indigenous health promotion action is underpinned by genuine and broad community engagement that broadly acknowledges kinship systems, cultural protocols and values, such as reciprocity and trust.…”