Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe Street, Suite E-8132, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
BMC Med Ethics. 2013 Jul 30;14:31. doi: 10.1186/1472-6939-14-31.
The increase in the volume of research conducted in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC), has brought a renewed international focus on processes for ethical conduct of research. Several programs have been initiated to strengthen the capacity for research ethics in LMIC. However, most such programs focus on individual training or development of ethics review committees. The objective of this paper is to present an approach to institutional capacity assessment in research ethics and application of this approach in the form of a case study from an institution in Africa.
We adapted the Octagon model originally used by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency to assess an organization along eight domains in research ethics: basic values and identity; structure and organization; ability to carry out activities; relevance of activities to stated goals; capacity of staff and management; administrative, financing and accounting systems; its relations with target groups; and the national context. We used a mixed methods approach to collect empirical data at the University of Botswana from March to December 2010.
The overall shape of the external evaluation Octagon suggests that strengths of the University of Botswana are in the areas of structure, relevance, production and identity; while the university still needs more work in the areas of systems of finance, target groups, and environment. The Octagons also show the similarities and discrepancies between the 'external' and 'internal' evaluations and provide an opportunity for exploration of these different assessments. For example, the discrepant score for 'identity' between internal and external evaluations allows for an exploration of what constitutes a strong identity for research ethics at the University of Botswana and how it can be strengthened.
There is a general lack of frameworks for evaluating research ethics capacity in LMICs. We presented an approach that stresses evaluation from both internal and external perspectives. This case study highlights the university's rapid progress in developing research ethics capacity and points to some notable areas for improvement. We believe that such an empirically-driven and participatory assessment allows a more holistic measurement and promotion of institutional capacity strengthening for research ethics in LMICs.
在中低收入国家（LMIC）进行的研究数量不断增加，使国际社会重新关注研究伦理的实施过程。为此，发起了多个项目来加强 LMIC 的研究伦理能力。然而，大多数此类项目都侧重于个人培训或伦理审查委员会的发展。本文旨在介绍一种研究伦理机构能力评估方法，并以非洲一机构的案例研究形式应用该方法。
我们改编了瑞典国际开发合作署最初用于评估组织在研究伦理八个领域的八角模型：基本价值观和身份；结构和组织；开展活动的能力；活动与既定目标的相关性；员工和管理层的能力；行政、财务和会计系统；与目标群体的关系；以及国家背景。我们于 2010 年 3 月至 12 月在博茨瓦纳大学采用混合方法收集实证数据。
大学外部评估八角图形的整体形状表明，博茨瓦纳大学的优势在于结构、相关性、生产和身份领域；而大学在财务、目标群体和环境系统方面仍需更多工作。八角图形还展示了“外部”和“内部”评估之间的相似点和差异点，并为探索这些不同的评估提供了机会。例如，内部和外部评估之间“身份”的不一致评分允许探讨博茨瓦纳大学研究伦理的强大身份构成以及如何加强这种身份。
目前普遍缺乏评估中低收入国家研究伦理能力的框架。我们提出了一种强调内部和外部评估的方法。该案例研究强调了大学在发展研究伦理能力方面的快速进展，并指出了一些值得改进的显著领域。我们相信，这种基于经验和参与式的评估可以更全面地衡量和促进中低收入国家研究伦理机构能力的加强。
