 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Josephine Ensign, DrPH, Department of Psychosocial and Community Health, University of Washington, Box 357263, Seattle, WA 98195, 206-685-0816, bjensign@u.washington.edu
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to document the experiences and perspectives of homeless adolescents as research participants in previous research. Methods: Individual interviews with 30 street and clinic-based homeless youth ages 13-24 and two focus groups with a total of 15 additional homeless youth were conducted in a large West-coast city. In the interviews and focus groups, the researcher covered the topics of youth experiences as previous research participants, as well as the adolescents' views on the ethical conduct of such research. Results: The majority of youth reported overall positive past experiences as research participants. None reported coercive research experiences; however, many youth stated that they would have liked more information on how the data they provided would be used, as well as having final research reports made available to them. All youth reported that it was important to provide research incentives, and thought that small monetary (5-10US$) or pre-paid phone cards were appropriate incentives. They did think that larger monetary incentives could be coercive for some homeless youth. Most youth stated that they would like to be more involved in all phases of research to make it more appropriate to their situation. Conclusion: Researchers working with homeless youth should seek greater input from the youth into the overall design and special ethical considerations of the research.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Adolescents, Ethics
Related Web page: none
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: none
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.