Understanding the Ethics of Research

               Being raised in a rural town in Georgia, knowledge and resources on physical and mental health are rarely discussed. Soon after, I moved to Florence, South Carolina (SC), and noticed the difference in accessibility to healthcare resources. More healthcare facilities and resources were available to people than in my hometown. Witnessing these healthcare disparities, my goal was to help bridge the gap in knowledge and accessibility for rural communities regarding wellness and mental health resources health.

 

               My interest in deepening my understanding of psychology-based research is what led me to look for a research assistant (RA) position. I had the opportunity to become an RA in the ADHD Research and Insight to Support Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults (ARISE) lab during Fall 2023. The ARISE lab looked into the prevalence, etiology, and outcomes associated with attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related conditions in children, adolescents, and young adults. My roles in the lab include running research participants, facilitating the data collection process, conducting literary reviews, and other necessary lab activities. As I became more involved in the lab, I gained a deeper understanding of the importance of research. I presented my experience working as an RA in the land and discussed the importance of ADHD research at Discover USC in Spring 2024. My time at Discovery USC allowed me to emphasize the importance of research and involvement, as it has broadened my understanding of psychology and given me a new outlook beyond the classroom.

 

               In addition to my role in the lab, we have weekly meetings to discuss our study progress, graduate-student-led professional workshops, and recent ADHD literature reviews. As seen in my artifact #1 (Click Here) I brought in Challenges in ADHD Care for ethnic minority children: A Review of the Current Literature by Ortal Slobodin and Rafik Masalha, published in 2020. Slobodin and Masalha looks into how social and cultural factors influence the diagnosis and treatment of ethnic minority children. Ethnic groups tend to be over or sometimes under-diagnosed than those that are nonethnic minorities. Factors such as different cultural norms can influence how ADHD is seen in children in different minority backgrounds. The article suggests further studies should investigate how parents in ethnic minority backgrounds perceive ADHD and their thoughts on ADHD treatment methods. These factors are crucial for understanding ADHD better across various groups, and research can help achieve this. To be able to conduct research it is important to understand the basic ethical rules. During my time in the lab, running participant studies and reviewing journal entries on these topics, I wanted to have a deeper understanding of the ethical conditions in a medical and research setting, leading me to take Medical Ethics (PHIL 321).

 

               PHIL 321 looks into key ethical issues, starting by understanding general ethical theories and moral reason and diving into discussion to explore ethical issues in medicine and research, such as the right to life and patient autonomy. In class, we discussed the unethical clinical experiments of the Tuskegee experiment. African American men from a rural town in Alabama were enrolled in a study conducted by the US Public Health Service looking into the effects of untreated syphilis. They were uninformed of the study's purpose or the treatment of penicillin after it became available to the public. This unethical experiment violated the individual right to autonomy and led to a significant mistrust in research and medicine.  ​