Are research data a common resource?

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Recycling the evidence: Different approaches to the reanalysis of elite life histories

The chapter considers the re-analysis of a specific data set, the life histories of a select group of pioneers of geriatric medicine collected by Professor Margot Jefferys' in 1991. It considers what these interviews demonstrate about changing attitudes to family and community amongst one particular group of professionals. The chapter concludes that to some extent the interviewees' professional identity and ability to develop geriatrics as a specialty in its own right depended on their recognition of family and community. However, in relation to policy, community and family are terms which have much changed in their meanings over the last twenty years and the interviews require reading with these changing contexts in mind

Interrogation or Experimentation? Assessing Non-Consensual Human Experimentation During the War on Terror

The prohibition against non-consensual human experimentation has long been considered sacrosanct. It traces its legal roots to the Nuremberg trials although the ethical foundations dig much deeper. It prohibits all forms of medical and scientific experimentation on non-consenting individuals. The prohibition against non-consensual human experimentation is now well established in both national and international law. Despite its status as a fundamental and non-derogable norm, the prohibition against non-consensual human experimentation was called into question during the War on Terror by the CIA’s treatment of “high-value detainees.” Seeking to acquire actionable intelligence, the CIA tested the “theory of learned helplessness” on these detainees by subjecting them to a series of enhanced interrogation techniques. This Article revisits the prohibition against non-consensual human experimentation to determine whether the CIA’s treatment of detainees violated international law. It examines the historical record that gave rise to the prohibition and its eventual codification in international law. It then considers the application of this norm to the CIA’s treatment of high-value detainees by examining Salim v. Mitchell , a lawsuit brought by detainees who were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques. This Article concludes that the CIA breached the prohibition against non-consensual human experimentation when it conducted systematic studies on these detainees to validate the theory of learned helplessness

What works for offenders and staff: Comparing two multi-agency approaches to offender resettlement

Between 2005 and 2007, the Kent and Medway Resettlement Programme (KMRP) piloted EXODUS (ex-offenders discharged under supervision), a multi-agency support system for identified prolific and priority offenders (IPPOs). Unlike traditional models of multi-agency support, EXODUS agencies work from the same location to maximize support for IPPOs, and inter- and intra-agency support for staff. This study assessed the perceived effectiveness of EXODUS. EXODUS staff and IPPOs were interviewed and their responses compared to those of traditional multi-agency support staff and IPPOs. Analysis showed that EXODUS IPPOs had committed fewer offences since receiving support than did comparison IPPOs. Neither group was more likely to be employed, but of those who were, EXODUS IPPOs were more likely to remain employed than comparison IPPOs. Most, regardless of type of support structure, recommended their programme and staff, although EXODUS IPPOs were more satisfied with the support they received. Staff believed that an expansion of the multi-agency approach was needed and that agency roles should be more clearly defined. EXODUS staff expressed higher efficacy in their own and colleagues’ ability to provide effective support and improved inter-agency relations and support from co-workers. However, EXODUS and comparison staff did not differ in levels of job satisfaction

From Consultation to Consent: Squaring the Circle?

This article analyses the apparent tensions between the current Canadian law on the Crown's duty to consult with Indigenous peoples, which generally refuses an Indigenous veto over proposed land uses in traditional lands, and the principle of prior informed indigenous consent, as enshrined in the recent U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The tension between these competing visions of the rights of Indigenous communities has given rise not just to theoretical legal conflicts, but also to destructive conflicts on the ground. The author argues that attention to the dialogic framework within which Indigenous concerns are addressed during consultations, and particularly to indigenous peoples' participation in developing that framework, is key to managing those conflicts effectively and to reconciling current Canadian law and practice with the principles of the U.N. Declaration. Next it examines a question on which Canadian consultation law is largely silent: the allocation of benefits derived from developments on Indigenous traditional lands. Finally, the analysis turns to the principle of free, prior and informed consent to the substance of proposed developments on traditional lands. The article concludes that the objective of obtaining such consent is a salutary one that has been wrongly marginalized in both the jurisprudence and Canadian government practice

Illness identity as an important component of candidacy: Contrasting experiences of help-seeking and access to care in cancer and heart disease

How and when we use health services or healthcare provision has dominated exploration of and debates around healthcare access. Levels of utilisation are assumed as a proxy for access. Yet, focusing on utilisation conceals an important aspect of the access conundrum: the relationships that patients and potential patients have with the healthcare system and the professionals within those systems. Candidacy has been proposed as an antidote to traditional utilisation models. The Candidacy construct offers the ability to include patient-professional aspects alongside utilisation and thus promotes a deeper understanding of access. Originally applied to healthcare access for vulnerable populations, additional socio-demographic factors, including age and ethnicity, have also been shown to influence the Candidacy process. Here we propose a further extension of the Candidacy construct and illustrate the importance of illness identities when accessing healthcare. Drawing on a secondary data analysis of three data sets of qualitative interviews from colorectal cancer and heart failure patients we found that though similar access issues are apparent pre-diagnosis, diagnosis marks a critical juncture in the experience of access. Cancer patients describe a person-centred responsive healthcare system where their patienthood requires only modest assertion. Cancer speaks for itself. In marked contrast heart failure patients, describe struggling within a seemingly impermeable system to understand their illness, its implications and their own legitimacy as patients. Our work highlights the pressing need for healthcare professionals, systems and policies to promote a person centred approach, which is responsive and timely, regardless of illness category. To achieve this, attitudes regarding the importance or priority afforded to different categories of illness need to be tackled as they directly influence ideas of Candidacy and consequently access and experiences of care