[Provides a guide to self-treatment as ethically acceptable compensation for having participated in a psychiatry research project]

J Int Bioethique. 2009 Sep;20(3):137-44,154. doi: 10.3917/jib.203.0135.
[Article in French]

Abstract

Due to ethical constraints imposed by Research Ethics Board, it may be difficult to offer participants adequate compensations for their involvement in the study, or compensations that do not have a coercive impact on the participant's ability to refuse to participate. The current study aims at providing empirical data supporting an innovative solution: the provision of a self-help treatment manual. The samples consists of 33 adults (24 females, 9 males) aged between 20 and 59 and all suffering from pathological fear of heights. After participating in an experimental study, participants received a self-help manual to treat their acrophobia on their own. The severity of their claustrophobia was measured before and six months after participants were instructed on how to use the self-help book as a compensatory measure for their participation. Data also suggests that the participants were satisfied with the help provided in the self-treatment manual and that this is perceived in a positive way. To sum up, this study is not an outcome study for a new form of therapy; it simply offers researchers data supporting the use of an alternative compensatory measure. Indeed, using a self-help book represents an interesting solution.

Publication types

  • English Abstract

MeSH terms

  • Ethics, Medical*
  • Humans
  • Manuals as Topic / standards
  • Psychiatry / methods*
  • Research / standards
  • Self Care / ethics*
  • Self Care / standards*
  • Self-Help Devices / standards
  • Self-Help Groups / ethics
  • Self-Help Groups / standards
  • Social Support