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Attitudes of Health-Care Providers towards Research with Newborn Babies

Journal of Perinatology volume 24, pages 775–782 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

CONTEXT: By providing information and possibly shaping parents' preferences, health-care providers are thought to play a critical role in parental decisions to enroll their infants in research. Yet, little is known about health-care providers' beliefs about research with newborns. Previous studies suggest that parents and health-care providers are often at odds regarding attitudes towards research.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the attitudes of health-care providers concerning the acceptability of research with newborn babies and the degree of research-related risk to which they would be willing to expose their own infant. These findings were compared with a previous study of parental attitudes.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A survey (pretested questionnaire with 20 scaled items and five case scenarios) of 50 doctors and 64 nurses conducted in a large tertiary care center in western Canada.

RESULTS: Study limitations were a response rate of 64.5% among nurses but only 22% among physicians. Both doctors and nurses were strongly supportive of research with newborns, but nurses were more averse to exposing infants to risk. Only 76.0% of nurses, compared to 92.2% of physicians, agreed that informed consent should be sought for all forms of research. When results were compared with parental perceptions, health-care providers were more likely to believe that research should be conducted for the good of all babies. Parents were generally less aware of the existence of an approval process for research in general. In responding to hypothetical scenarios with risk and direct benefit, parents were less willing to enroll their infants than were health-care providers. Approximately 30% of both groups would be willing to enroll their infants in a study involving moderate risk and no direct benefit.

CONCLUSIONS: Views of nurses, physicians, and parents regarding research with newborns are different. Overall, there is support for research; however, nurses are more likely to never enroll their own baby and enroll babies into minor studies without consent.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the University of Calgary and the Calgary Health Region for support of this project, and to Michael Fox for collecting the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Clinical Division, Neonatology, Calgary Health Region, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Nalini Singhal MD, FRCP

  2. Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Nalini Singhal MD, FRCP

  3. Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Kathleen Oberle RN, PhD

  4. University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Amy Darwish

  5. Department of Medicine, Office of Medical Bioethics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

    Ellen Burgess MD, FRCP

Authors
  1. Nalini Singhal MD, FRCP
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  2. Kathleen Oberle RN, PhD
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  3. Amy Darwish
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  4. Ellen Burgess MD, FRCP
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Appendix A

Appendix A

Questionnaire B — 5 scenarios are given in Table A1.

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Singhal, N., Oberle, K., Darwish, A. et al. Attitudes of Health-Care Providers towards Research with Newborn Babies. J Perinatol 24, 775–782 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7211171

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