Title: Withholding Study Purpose

Author: Emily E. Anderson and James M. DuBois (originally appeared on www.emhr.net)

Description: A researcher wants to test an intervention to prevent child abuse among pregnant women in drug treatment programs but feels that revealing the true aim of the intervention may upset women already in difficult life circumstances (and limit enrollment). She asks her institution’s IRB for permission to tell potential participants that the study is a parenting skills development rather than child abuse prevention program.

Keyword(s):  Deception (Debriefing, Illusions), Disclosure and Deception, Informed Consent

Case: Dr. Kasparov has received funding to develop and test an intervention to prevent child abuse among pregnant women in outpatient drug treatment programs. Many current and recovering substance-abusing women are at risk for abusing their children due to difficult life circumstances and lack of personal and financial resources needed to cope with the demands of a young child.

Prior research has identified economic and psychological factors associated with child maltreatment, including personal childhood experiences of maltreatment, poor mental and physical health, lack of social support, limited education, and limited knowledge of infant development. Yet, little research has been done to determine whether child abuse rates can be decreased through intervention programs with mothers being treated for substance abuse. Dr. Kasparov plans to use the Parenting Stress Index and test knowledge of child development to identify mothers who are at risk of abusing their children. Those who are at risk would then be randomized to receive either social work visits alone or the experimental intervention involving counseling, a brief education program on child development, and regular social work visits. After six months control group participants would receive the full experimental treatment. The social work visits would have two purposes: (1) to provide additional resources tailored to the participants’ needs and (2) to look for signs of child abuse and neglect in the home. The dependent variables are (1) predictors of risk (i.e., scores on the Parenting Stress Index and knowledge of child development) and (2) signs of child abuse and neglect.

Dr. Kasparov mentions in her proposal to the IRB that participants will be told that the study is a services program designed to improve parenting skills but their data might be used in a quality assurance study. She does not want to inform them of the purpose of the study for fear that they would decline to participate out of fear that their children could be taken away and because labeling them as “at risk of abusing their children” is stigmatizing. She argues that the risks of non-disclosure are far outweighed by the potential benefits to children.

  1. As an IRB member, do you vote to approve the study? Why or why not?
  2. Are there any alternatives to the use of deception to increase study enrollment?
  3. What detrimental effects could ensue from Kasparov’s use of deception in this vulnerable population?