Open AccessResearch Participation as Work: Comparing the Perspectives of Researchers and Economically Marginalized Populations
Author(s) -
Peter J. Davidson,
Kimberly Page
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2011.300418
Subject(s) - work (physics) , context (archaeology) , medical research , unintended consequences , compensation (psychology) , public relations , sociology , injection drug use , political science , criminology , gerontology , economic growth , medicine , psychology , social psychology , law , family medicine , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , geography , drug injection , economics , mechanical engineering , archaeology , pathology , engineering
We examined the historical and regulatory framework of research with human participants in the United States, and described some possible unintended consequences of this framework in the context of paying young injection drug users for their time participating in behavioral and medical research. We drew upon our own experiences while conducting a long-running epidemiological study of hepatitis C virus infection. We found that existing ethical and regulatory framings of research participation may lead to injustices from the perspectives of research participants. We propose considering research participation as a specialized form of work and the use of community advisory boards to facilitate discussion about appropriate compensation for research participation among economically marginalized populations.