Kids and Research
We know that children and adolescents are often very willing and able to be involved in research and often become involved so that they can help others in similar situations while also giving a voice to their own experiences. There are special ways of asking children to become part of research projects and of ensuring that they feel safe, understood and respected throughout the research process (commonly known as research ethics).
Ethics
All of the members of TRAC-PG are expected to follow the ethical standards of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical conduct for Research Involving Humans as well as high levels of scientific reviews. This statement can be found at: http://www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/english/index.cfm
Consent & Assent
In our province there is no age for a child to give consent to participate in a research project. This means that children may give consent to become involved in research if they are considered to be “competent”. Competence involves the ability of the child to understand what is being asked of them and the ability to reasonably understand what might be the consequences of deciding to or not to participate in that specific research project. If a child is unable to give consent than a substitute decision maker such as a parent or guardian is asked to provide consent on the child’s behalf. If a child is unable to provide consent than other efforts will be offered to provide the child with the opportunity to assent (agree) or dissent (disagree) to participate in the research project.
This link will take you to the consent forms used at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto: www.sickkids.ca/consentform
Privacy and Confidentiality
We understand the importance of keeping information (data) that children and families share with us safe and confidential. Some of the ways that we do this is by: Assigning codes instead of using any personal information that may identify a child or family as well as keeping records and documents in a locked and safe place.
