A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Ethics in neonatal pain research




AuthorsAxelin A, Salantera S

PublisherSAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD

Publication year2008

JournalNursing Ethics

Journal name in sourceNURSING ETHICS

Journal acronymNURS ETHICS

Volume15

Issue4

First page 492

Last page499

Number of pages8

ISSN0969-7330

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1177/0969733007086017(external)


Abstract
A literature review of 98 articles concerning clinical pain research in newborn infants was conducted to evaluate how researchers report the ethical issues related to their studies and how journals guide this reporting. The articles were published in 49 different scientific journals. The ethical issues most often mentioned were parental informed consent (94%) and ethical review approval (87%). In 75% of the studies the infants suffered pain during the research when placebo, no treatment or otherwise inadequate pain management was applied. Discussion about benefits versus harm to research participants was lacking. A quarter of the journals did not have any ethical guidelines for submitted manuscripts. We conclude that ethical considerations did not play a significant role in the articles studied. Missing and superficial guidelines enable authors to offer studies with fragile research ethics.


Research Areas



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 12:34