The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #40639

John R. Stone, MD, PhD, Assoc Prof, College of Vet. Med, Nursing, & Allied Health, Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, Senior Staff Associate (Bioethics Center) and Assist Prof, Philosophy, 1209 Chambliss Street, Tuskegee Institute, AL 36088, 334-724-4556, jrstone1@mindspring.com and Groesbeck Parham, MD, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Old Hillman Building #538, 618 20th Street So., Birmingham, AL 35205-7333.

CHAs function as intermediaries between the community and health care institutions. Working with health care professionals, paraprofessionals, and researchers, CHAs foster the health of underrepresented minorities as well as aid in their recruitment and retention in clinical trials. There is a need to lay out the ethical ground in this area. At least the following five ethical issues are significant:

• Confidentiality of information.
• Possibility of client exploitation.
• Threats to the integrity of CHAs.
• Opportunity for power as conflict of Interest.
• Temptations to overstep bounds of knowledge.

We will review what moral principles such as beneficence, respect for autonomy, and justice, as well as ethics of care and virtue ethics, imply for the above ethical issues and CHA training.

We will argue that to increase our understanding and develop teaching modules, we should ascertain concrete ethical problems (cases) that CHAs face, using community focus groups. We will conclude with suggestions about how to incorporate ethics issues into the training of CHAs.

Learning Objectives:

• • The audience will have increased understanding of ethical issues associated with the work of CHAs.
  • The audience will understand the need for more investigation of ethical issues involving the work of CHAs.
  • The audience will be motivated to investigate whether their training programs for CHAs have sufficient ethics content.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.