Conway, Bridie

Fitzsimons, Donna

Mullan, Deirdre

Introduction: Nurses conducting research inpalliative care frequently encounter ethicallychallenging situations due to the vulnerability ofparticipants and sensitivity of the subject matter.These issues must be carefully analysed if thedecisions taken are to be in the best interests ofparticipants, researchers and society.Aim: The purpose of this paper is to discuss theethical conflicts and decisions undertaken in thecourse of a combined qualitative and quantitativestudy of the palliative care needs of patients witha non-cancer diagnosis.Objectives: I. To discuss the ethical issues whichwere encountered in the course of this study. II. Toincrease nurse reseachers’ understanding of theprofessional conflict which may be incurred in suchresearch.Issues: In this paper we contend that the researcher’sprofessional background influenced:• The consent process – with all participantsconsenting to the study,• The trusting relationship developed with participants• The rich and sensitive nature of the data generatedfrom interviews. This had repercussions because,despite having gained ethical approval for a noninterventionalstudy, the researcher felt morallyobliged to respond therapeutically to bothpractical and emotional difficulties described byparticipants during the course of interviews. Wediscuss the extent to which the ethical conceptsof beneficence and non-maleficience applied tothis study. We also explore the nurse-researcherrole conflict inherent in the study and discussstrategies used to negotiate this.Conclusions: Nurse researchers frequentlyembark on non-interventional research, wherethe expectation is that they will gain data withoutobvious benefit or harm to the participants. In thisstudy we found that the professional backgroundof the research had far-reaching impact on manyaspects of the study and therefore required carefulethical consideration

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Ethical issues encountered in a research study of the palliative care needs of patients with a non-cancer diagnosis.

https://pure.qub.ac.uk/ws/files/149626828/2005_research_book_of_abstracts_and_conference_programme.pdf

Ethical issues encountered in a research study of the palliative care needs of patients with a non-cancer diagnosis.

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