Hummel AC1, Porz R2
1Berner Fachhochschule, Gesundheit, Bern, Switzerland, 2Inselspital Bern, Fachstelle Klinische Ethik, Bern, Switzerland
Background: Not only recent history shows that there is a tension between research interests and general values and norms in human research.
With the preparation of ethical applications and the control of medical studies by neutral authorities, the rights of the subjects and their integrity should be protected. Researchers are also confronted with ethical problems in physiotherapeutic research, but there are currently no guidelines available.
In the course of professionalization of physiotherapy, a fundamental assessment of ethical problems in research is necessary.
Purpose: The intention of this paper is to uncover, illustrate, and analyse ethical challenges in physiotherapy research in a suitable form. The aim is to examine the ethical challenges in physiotherapeutic research faced by ethicists and researchers from the field of physiotherapy and how these ethical challenges differ from those in medical research.
Methods: Qualitative research access was selected to answer the research question. Data collection was carried out with the help of ten semi-structured expert interviews. Ethicists and researchers from the field of physiotherapy were interviewed. Their view of ethical challenges in physiotherapy was collected, compared and put into scientific context. The interviews were transcribed and processed according to the content analysis of Mayring.
Results: Ethical challenges, which were the interviews of researchers in the field of ethics and physiotherapy, are: social benefits, clean scientific work, selection of subjects, favorable risk-benefit ratio, informed consent, rights of the participants, physical therapy as physical Practice, Therapeutic Misconception and the Use of Placebos and Control Groups.
Ethical challenges, which were the interviews of researchers in the field of ethics, are: external review of research, recruitment within the professional group and treatment of drop-outs.
Ethical challenges, which were only content in interviews with physiotherapists, are: Lack of scientific basis, resources diminish the quality of the study, awareness about their own influence on the study, clarification of the subjects after completion of the study on results.
Conclusion(s): The choice of the qualitative research approach proved to be useful in this work, since the holistic view of an event was in the foreground and little literature exists yet in this area yet. This work can serve as a first basis for further research in this field. From the interviews and in comparison with existing literature, it becomes clear that there may be ethical challenges in physiotherapic research, which distinguishes them from other research disciplines. Possible differences could lie in the area of physical contact, which is associated with a physiotherapeutic treatment, lacking scientific basis of the young research discipline and the quality-reducing influence of the low resources in this research field.
Implications: Physiotherapy lacks a specific revision of ethical challenges in human research. Further research is needed, which picks up and further processes the research results. The goal should be the creation of ethical guidelines for physiotherapy research.
Keywords: Ethics guidelines, Research ethics, ethical challenges
Funding acknowledgements: This work was supported by Hirschmann Stipendium (scholarship) and Stiftung Physiotherapie Wissenschaften (foundation)
In the course of professionalization of physiotherapy, a fundamental assessment of ethical problems in research is necessary.
Purpose: The intention of this paper is to uncover, illustrate, and analyse ethical challenges in physiotherapy research in a suitable form. The aim is to examine the ethical challenges in physiotherapeutic research faced by ethicists and researchers from the field of physiotherapy and how these ethical challenges differ from those in medical research.
Methods: Qualitative research access was selected to answer the research question. Data collection was carried out with the help of ten semi-structured expert interviews. Ethicists and researchers from the field of physiotherapy were interviewed. Their view of ethical challenges in physiotherapy was collected, compared and put into scientific context. The interviews were transcribed and processed according to the content analysis of Mayring.
Results: Ethical challenges, which were the interviews of researchers in the field of ethics and physiotherapy, are: social benefits, clean scientific work, selection of subjects, favorable risk-benefit ratio, informed consent, rights of the participants, physical therapy as physical Practice, Therapeutic Misconception and the Use of Placebos and Control Groups.
Ethical challenges, which were the interviews of researchers in the field of ethics, are: external review of research, recruitment within the professional group and treatment of drop-outs.
Ethical challenges, which were only content in interviews with physiotherapists, are: Lack of scientific basis, resources diminish the quality of the study, awareness about their own influence on the study, clarification of the subjects after completion of the study on results.
Conclusion(s): The choice of the qualitative research approach proved to be useful in this work, since the holistic view of an event was in the foreground and little literature exists yet in this area yet. This work can serve as a first basis for further research in this field. From the interviews and in comparison with existing literature, it becomes clear that there may be ethical challenges in physiotherapic research, which distinguishes them from other research disciplines. Possible differences could lie in the area of physical contact, which is associated with a physiotherapeutic treatment, lacking scientific basis of the young research discipline and the quality-reducing influence of the low resources in this research field.
Implications: Physiotherapy lacks a specific revision of ethical challenges in human research. Further research is needed, which picks up and further processes the research results. The goal should be the creation of ethical guidelines for physiotherapy research.
Keywords: Ethics guidelines, Research ethics, ethical challenges
Funding acknowledgements: This work was supported by Hirschmann Stipendium (scholarship) and Stiftung Physiotherapie Wissenschaften (foundation)
Topic: Research methodology & knowledge translation
Ethics approval required: No
Institution: Kantonale Ethikkommission
Ethics committee: Ethikkommission Bern
Reason not required: The project is not covered by the Human Research Act
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
