Best Practices in Mental Health Research Ethics Conference Series

Mental health research frequently raises concerns about the decisional capacity of participants, risks—particularly when studies involve washout, placebo controls, or suicidality as an outcome—and community priorities, which may differ from those of researchers.

This project systematically reviewed empirical studies focused on assessing and improving informed consent, communicating risks in research, and engaging communities in mental health research. The team held public conferences during each of four project years, and published papers recommending best practices and future research.

DuBois, J.M., Bailey-Burch, B., Bustillos, D., Campbell, J., Cottler, L., Fisher, C.B., Hadley, W.B., Hoop, J.G., Roberts, L., Salter, E.K., Sieber, J.E., & Stevenson, R.D. (2011). Ethical issues in mental health research: the case for community engagement. Current Opinions in Psychiatry. 24: 208-214.

DuBois, J.M., Bante, H., & Hadley, W. (2011). Ethics in psychiatric research: A review of 25-years of NIH-funded empirical research. American Journal of Bioethics: Primary Research. 2(4): 5-17.

DuBois, J.M., Beskow, L., Campbell, J., Dugosh, K., Festinger, D., Hartz, S., James, R., & Lidz, C. (2012). Restoring balance: A consensus paper on the protection of ‘vulnerable’ research participants. American Journal of Public Health. 102(12): 2220-2225.

Iltis, A.S., Misra, S., Dunn, L.B., Brown, G.K., Campbell, A., Earll, S.A., Glowinski, A., Hadley, W., Pies, R., DuBois, J.M. (2013). Addressing risks to advance mental health research. JAMA Psychiatry. 70(12):1363-1371.