School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3, Canada.
BC Centre on Substance Use, 400-1045 Howe St., Vancouver, BC, V6Z 2A9, Canada.
Harm Reduct J. 2023 Jul 6;20(1):86. doi: 10.1186/s12954-023-00818-6.
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) can directly involve non-academic community members in the research process. Existing resources for research ethics training can be inaccessible to team members without an academic background and do not attend to the full spectrum of ethical issues that arise through community-engaged research practices. We detail an approach to capacity building and training in research ethics in the context of CBPR with people who use(d) illicit drugs and harm reduction workers in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighborhood.
A project team comprised of academic and community experts in CBPR, research ethics, and harm reduction met over five months to develop the Community-Engaged Research Ethics Training (CERET). The group distilled key principles and content from federal research ethics guidelines in Canada, and developed case examples to situate the principles in the context of research with people who use(d) illicit drugs and harm reduction workers. In addition to content related to federal ethics guidelines, the study team integrated additional content related to ethical issues that arise through community-based research, and ethical principles for research in the Downtown Eastside. Workshops were evaluated using a pre-post questionnaire with attendees.
Over the course of six weeks in January-February 2020, we delivered three in-person workshops for twelve attendees, most of whom were onboarding as peer research assistants with a community-based research project. Workshops were structured around key principles of research ethics: respect for persons, concern for welfare, and justice. The discussion-based format we deployed allowed for the bi-directional exchange of information between facilitators and attendees. Evaluation results suggest the CERET approach was effective, and attendees gained confidence and familiarity with workshop content across learning objectives.
The CERET initiative offers an accessible approach to fulfill institutional requirements while building capacity in research ethics for people who use(d) drugs and harm reduction workers. This approach recognizes community members as partners in ethical decision making throughout the research process and is aligned with values of CBPR. Building capacity around intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions of research ethics can prepare all study team members to attend to ethical issues that arise from CBPR.
基于社区的参与式研究（CBPR）可以直接让非学术社区成员参与研究过程。现有的研究伦理培训资源可能无法为没有学术背景的团队成员所获得，并且无法涵盖通过社区参与式研究实践产生的所有伦理问题。我们详细介绍了一种在温哥华唐人街地区使用非法药物的人和减少伤害工作者参与的 CBPR 背景下进行研究伦理能力建设和培训的方法。
一个由 CBPR、研究伦理和减少伤害方面的学术和社区专家组成的项目团队在五个月的时间里开会制定了社区参与式研究伦理培训（CERET）。该小组从加拿大联邦研究伦理准则中提炼出关键原则和内容，并开发了案例示例，将这些原则置于与使用非法药物的人和减少伤害工作者进行研究的背景下。除了与联邦伦理准则相关的内容外，研究团队还整合了与社区为基础的研究中出现的伦理问题以及在唐人街进行研究的伦理原则相关的其他内容。使用参加者的会前-会后问卷调查对研讨会进行评估。
在 2020 年 1 月至 2 月的六周内，我们为 12 名参加者举办了三次实地研讨会，其中大多数人是作为一个社区为基础的研究项目的同行研究助理入职的。研讨会围绕研究伦理的三个关键原则构建：尊重个人、关心福利和公正。我们采用的讨论式格式允许在主持人和参加者之间进行信息的双向交流。评估结果表明，CERET 方法是有效的，参加者在所有学习目标方面都对研讨会内容有了信心和熟悉度。
CERET 计划为使用药物的人和减少伤害工作者提供了一种易于获得的方法，以满足机构要求并在研究伦理方面增强能力。这种方法将社区成员视为整个研究过程中伦理决策的合作伙伴，与 CBPR 的价值观一致。围绕研究伦理的内在和外在维度进行能力建设，可以使所有研究团队成员都能处理 CBPR 产生的伦理问题。
