Chapter 7.4 Getting ethical approval for your research
Authors: Lo SK, Lam HCY, Chan EYY.
Chapter 7.4 describes the following in relation to applying for ethical approval for a research study in health emergency and disaster risk management (Health EDRM), with a focus on WHO guidance:
- The general processes involved in ethical approval of research projects.
- The types of document that are usually needed for an ethics application.
What is this chapter about?
It is important to balance the pursuit of knowledge with ensuring the safety and wellbeing of participants in Health EDRM research, but standard guidance on obtaining ethical approval can be difficult to use in the disaster setting.
This chapter provides a general overview of different types of ethics review, including the procedure, documents required and other important points, which are part of the WHO guidelines for ethical approval. The guidance should help ensure that the people who participate in research are treated ethically, not taken advantage of, and that the study is carried out to high ethical standards.
Case studies presented in the chapter:
- The value of an accelerated ethical review process during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak.
What are the key messages of this chapter?
- All research studies involving human participants should be reviewed and approved by research ethics committee. It is the committee’s decision whether a study should be exempted from the full reviewed process.
- Research should be conducted in ways that protect the safety and confidentiality of the participants, both physically and mentally (in protocol and document) and be carried out in accordance with the principles underpinning the Declaration of Helsinki.
- The type of ethics review required will depend on the nature and the urgency of the study.
- Current ethics review procedures might not be fully applicable to the challenges encountered in the Health EDRM context, especially during rapid onset emergencies and disasters because of the relatively long lead time of non-emergency ethics review processes. Changes in the ethics review procedure are needed to accommodate the special needs for emergency researches.
- Ethics application requirements vary across research ethics committee (REC). Researchers should check the requirements of the REC they plan to submit their application to.
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