1.THE CASEADOLESCENTS’ ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOURS RELATED TO HIV/AIDSPREVENTIONSociology professor and researcher Sarah Phillips has decided tobegin a study of adolescents’ attitudes and behaviours...

1.THE CASEADOLESCENTS’ ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOURS RELATED TO HIV/AIDSPREVENTIONSociology professor and researcher Sarah Phillips has decided tobegin a study of adolescents’ attitudes and behaviours related toHIV/AIDS prevention.She is interested in determining howadolescents think about using condoms during sexual intercourseand how their thinking influences their decisions either to use or notto use a condom.After considering her options, Dr. Phillips decides to administer apaper and pencil survey to approximately 400 high school studentsbetween the ages of 13 and 17 during their regularly scheduledhealth classes.The questionnaire will ask students to report not only whetherwere sexually active, but exactly what types of sexual activityhave experienced (e.g. vaginal, oral, or anal intercourse) andwill be asked to respond to each question for partners ofgenders.theytheytheybothDr. Phillips is seeking the approval of the University Research EthicsBoard for her research. Her questionnaire will take the studentsapproximately 30 minutes to complete. It will be completed by thestudents in their health classroom in the presence of Dr. Phillips andher research assistants. The students’ teachers will not be in theclasses at the time. Dr. Phillips proposes to recruit the students bygetting the permission of the Director of Education and of theindividual high-school principals. She proposes to obtain theconsent of the students through having them assent to take thequestionnaire, after having read a letter of information and consentthat will be distributed to them prior to the administration of thequestionnaire. At the time of administration, the letter will be readaloud to all of the students in the classroom, and they will be asked ifthey have any questions. Anyone who does not want to participatewill be free not to do so, the schools will arrange for an alternativeactivity for those students not participating.Since most of the students will be minors, Dr. Phillips proposes toobtain the consent of the student’s parents by way of a passiveconsent procedure. A letter of information and consent will be sentout to the parents of all of the students. The letter will provide theparents with the option of withdrawing their child from the studyprovided that they contact either Dr. Phillips or the high-school. If theparent(s) do not object and the student agrees to participate, thestudent will be allowed to complete the survey.The students will be asked NOT to provide their name or anyidentifiable information on the questionnaires. The questionnaire willbe collected by Dr. Phillips’ research assistants in the class, as theyare completed. Only Dr. Phillips and her assistants will have accessto the completed questionnaires. Dr. Phillips will provide a summaryof the results of the survey for each individual school, based on thedata of their individual school.The students will be offered theopportunity to contact her for a copy of any publication that arises outof the study.Since the research involves simply a paper and pencil survey, andthe data will be anonymous, Dr. Phillips does not think that there areany anticipated risks to the students if they choose to participate,particularly as they will be advised that if they do not wish to answerany of the questions, they do not have to do so. The questionnairewhich will have the title “Personal Health Attitudes Questionnaire”consists of a number of pages of questions, with detailed informationbeing sought about the different types of sexual activity as it appliesto those students who have experienced it.Dr. Phillips is also interested in the prevalence of Chlamydia, asexually-transmitted infection, which can be asymptomatic, in youngsexually active women. She is requesting permission to ask forvolunteers to have a vaginal swab performed at a local STD clinic.Female students who agree will be assigned a unique identifierwhich is identical to the identifier on their questionnaire, will be givenan appointment time at a local clinic. Dr. Phillips will then correlatetheir lab results with the sexual activity which they described in thesurvey. No results will be sent to them, their parents or their familyphysician in order to preserve anonymity.2.1.QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT:Is the proposed procedure for obtaining consent adequate?2.Is Dr. Phillips’ assessment of the risks of her study accurate?If not, what are the potential risks to the students and what are some possibleways forthe study to be changed to minimize those risks?3.Is Dr. Phillips’ assessment of the benefits to the students accurate?4.Assuming there are risks, does the study pose more than minimal risks?5.Are the proposed safeguards concerning privacy and confidentiality adequate?6.Is there any deception involved in the study?7.Is the vaginal swab test appropriate and necessary for the research?8.Other?