Open AccessEthical Practices and Legal Challenges in Mental Health Research
Author(s) -
Smita N. Deshpande,
Vishwajit L. Nimgaonkar,
Triptish Bhatia,
Nagendra Narayan Mishra,
Rajesh Nagpal,
Lisa S. Parker
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
asian bioethics review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.249
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 1793-8759
pISSN - 1793-9453
DOI - 10.1007/s41649-020-00116-4
Subject(s) - mental health , engineering ethics , bioethics , sociology , environmental ethics , political science , psychology , law , psychiatry , philosophy , engineering
Considerations of justice and concern for well-being support conducting mental health research and addressing ethical concerns specific to mental health research are critical. We discuss these concerns, provide recommendations to enable the ethical conduct of mental health research, and argue that participants' interests should be given primary weight in resolving apparent dilemmas. We also comment on provisions of two legislative actions in India relevant to mental health research: Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2016 and the Mental Health Care Act 2017. Both conform to the 2006 United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities of which India is a signatory. Both provide protections and enumerate rights relevant to people with mental health conditions but with differing focus. The commonalities and differences between the three are discussed in the background of international literature on research in mental health conditions. Studies involving deception and future directions for ethical requirements regarding genetic research are discussed.