What ethical guidelines is/are violated in the following study? A child therapist thinks the new, untested psychotherapy she recently developed is more effective than physician-prescribed medications for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. To research the effectiveness of her therapy, she tells parents that the therapy replaces the need for the medications and then provides the therapy to half of her clients, without telling parents about the study or which treatment group their child is in.
A) voluntary participation and informed consent.
B) no harm to the participant.
C) deceiving subjects.
D) all of the above.
E) none of the above.

Question

What ethical guidelines is/are violated in the following study? A child therapist thinks the new, untested psychotherapy she recently developed is more effective than physician-prescribed medications for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. To research the effectiveness of her therapy, she tells parents that the therapy replaces the need for the medications and then provides the therapy to half of her clients, without telling parents about the study or which treatment group their child is in.​
A) ​voluntary participation and informed consent.
B) ​no harm to the participant.
C) ​deceiving subjects.
D) ​all of the above.
E) ​none of the above.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The study violates voluntary participation and informed consent by not notifying the parents that their child is participating in a study and which treatment group their child is in. It violates no harm to the participant by not causing physical harm, but it does cause potential emotional harm by deceiving the parents. Lastly, it violates ethical guidelines by deceiving the subjects (the parents) about the purpose of the therapy.

What Ethical Guidelines Is/are Violated in the Following Study? a Child