University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa.
South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa.
J Interpers Violence. 2020 Feb;35(3-4):943-963. doi: 10.1177/0886260517691522. Epub 2017 Feb 13.
There is very little evidence whether recalling and answering questions about abuse or interpersonal violence has a positive or negative impact on participants of such research. This is an important ethical dilemma to ensure an appropriate risk-benefit ratio in research with young people is maintained. We assessed reported harms, benefits, and regrets of young adolescents who participated in a sensitive research project, and compared the harms and benefits in those who had and had not been victims and/or perpetrators of abuse or intimate partner violence. Participants were 3,264 adolescents aged 12 to 15 years in 41 public schools in the Western Cape, South Africa, who completed a survey about intimate partner violence, verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, as part of an HIV prevention cluster randomized controlled trial. The majority of participants reported research participation as beneficial (70.3%), while 27.7% reported harms and 14% regrets. Victims of abuse were more likely than non-victims to report benefits (71.9% vs. 67.1%; = .02) and harms (31% vs. 20.9%; < .01) and were less likely to report regret (13.1% vs. 16.7%; = .02). Perpetrators of abuse were less likely than non-perpetrators to report benefits (67.4% vs. 72.8%; = .01) and more likely to report harms (36.4% vs. 26.1%; < .01) and regrets (17.4% vs. 13.3%; = .01). Our findings suggested that research participation was more likely to have a positive rather than a negative emotional impact on young adolescents and that relatively few regretted participating. Victims and perpetrators of abuse were more likely to report benefits than harms, supporting the ethical appropriateness of ongoing research on abuse and violence. We recommend that further research is required to clarify and standardize terminology and instruments to quantify these kinds of evaluations, including measurement of the severity and intensity of reported benefits, harms and regrets, and the longer term impact of participation in sensitive research.
几乎没有证据表明回忆和回答有关虐待或人际暴力的问题对参与此类研究的人有积极或消极的影响。这是一个重要的伦理困境，需要确保在涉及年轻人的研究中保持适当的风险效益比。我们评估了参加一项敏感研究项目的青少年报告的伤害、益处和遗憾，并比较了虐待和亲密伴侣暴力的受害者和/或肇事者与非受害者的伤害和益处。参与者是南非西开普省 41 所公立学校的 3264 名 12 至 15 岁的青少年，他们完成了一项关于亲密伴侣暴力、言语、身体和性虐待的调查，作为艾滋病毒预防群组随机对照试验的一部分。大多数参与者报告研究参与是有益的（70.3%），而 27.7%报告有伤害，14%表示遗憾。虐待的受害者比非受害者更有可能报告受益（71.9%比 67.1%； =.02）和伤害（31%比 20.9%； <.01），而不太可能报告遗憾（13.1%比 16.7%； =.02）。虐待的施害者比非施害者更不可能报告受益（67.4%比 72.8%； =.01），更有可能报告伤害（36.4%比 26.1%； <.01）和遗憾（17.4%比 13.3%； =.01）。我们的研究结果表明，研究参与对青少年更有可能产生积极的而不是消极的情绪影响，而且很少有人后悔参与。虐待的受害者和施害者比伤害更有可能报告受益，这支持了对虐待和暴力进行持续研究的伦理适当性。我们建议需要进一步研究，以澄清和标准化术语和工具，量化这些评估，包括报告的受益、伤害和遗憾的严重程度和强度，以及参与敏感研究的长期影响。
