- Title
- Utilizing participants' strengths to reduce risk of harm in a study of family estrangement
- Creator
- Agllias, Kylie
- Relation
- Qualitative Health Research Vol. 21, Issue 8, p. 1136-1146
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1049732311405065
- Publisher
- Sage
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2011
- Description
- In this article I examine some issues involved in researching vulnerable populations and sensitive issues, and the challenges and risks of researching issues of a deeply personal nature. Participants might have complex needs and vulnerabilities, but they also have many resources to ensure their own well-being. I ask researchers to move beyond the minimum standards espoused by human ethics committees, and utilize participant strengths to further reduce the risk of harm. My reflections on a study of older people who were experiencing family estrangement highlight some of the actions that participants used to increase their personal safety. I discuss the usefulness of “strengths” questions in assessing risk and facilitating participant strengths to minimize harm. Finally, I propose a three-way model for reducing risk that involves the “lessons learned” from ethics committees, researchers, and the participants themselves.
- Subject
- ethics / moral perspectives; research participation; research; qualitative; risk; sensitive topics; vulnerable populations
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1055449
- Identifier
- uon:15884
- Identifier
- ISSN:1049-7323
- Language
- eng
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