Assignment Requirements
Assigned Article
Myung-Sun H., Hyang-In C. C., De Gagne, J. C. and Hee, S. K. (2014). The effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on depression, anger, and self-control for Korean soldiers. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, 52(2), 22-28.
Guide for Writing the Ethical Considerations in Mental Health Paper
Imagine that you are a member of a human subjects review committee or the institutional review board and are considering whether to approve this study. You job is to evaluate whether the ethical rights of the potential subjects were protected. While the study you select has been completed and published, and results are available, do not consider the results as you analyze the ethics of the study. Focus your evaluation on the plans to protect the vulnerable psychiatric subjects. You will need to support your argument with other published scholarly work.
Questions you may want to consider are as follows:
Consider if the subjects or their proxy gave voluntary and informed consent. Many studies are not specific about this, but you should decide what the researchers should have done based upon the diagnosis of the group of patients being studied and the research (medication, psychotherapy, diagnostic testing, personality testing). If a proxy was used, was their sufficient reason for using a proxy, and did the subject give his or her own view or assent?
Evaluate if the study was worthwhile doing.
Evaluate the risk/ benefit ratio. Were the possible benefits of the study sufficient to justify the risks to the subjects? Were the risks so great that the subjects should not have been asked to participate, or should have said no to participating?
Were there adequate protections in place for the subjects? If there was a wash out phase, or placebos, were the subjects protected? Did the subjects have psychiatric and medical evaluations sufficiently frequently and in enough depth for the researchers to protect them from harm?
All of the above topics may not be specifically addressed in the article, and it is the student’s assignment to think about this study, read and relevant articles that discuss the above issues and come to your own conclusions.
The paper should be succinctly written and no more three pages in length, excluding the cover page and references. Keep in mind that you will need to include at least two other references to support your opinion. These references must be from a reliable and professional source.
