This project will continue the development, implementation, and evaluation of an intensive four-day training course focusing on ethical and legal issues that arise when vulnerable populations, particularly people with severe mental disabilities, are used as research subjects. Issues addressed include historical foundations; informed consent; decisional capacity and competency; confidentiality and privacy; coercion, both direct and indirect; special problems that arise when children with severe emotional disorders are used as research subjects; inclusion of persons with mental disabilities and other under-represented populations; and potential risks of commonly used research techniques like mail and phone surveys. The curriculum also integrates issues of diversity and multicultural perspectives related to ethical and legal issues in behavioral health services research. The targets three primary audiences: (1) early career minority students who wish to conduct human services research; (2) practitioners and mental health advocates (including consumers and family members) conducting human service research/evaluation; and (3) Institutional Review Board members who review proposals with vulnerable populations as research subjects. In addition to the continued development of the direct training course, we will also carry out the following: (1) Assist course participants to develop and implement their own training programs by providing copies of faculty training materials when requested and consulting with participants as needed. (2) Enhance our role as a resource and reference point for ethics in behavioral health research through an expanded web-based presence providing resource links at our own site and other sites, including continuing our compilation of sample consent forms and IRB policies/materials from institutions nationwide. (3) Develop and implement a web-based instructional program where elements of our current training course are offered in modules as web courses. Building upon our Institute's experience in developing web based training programs; we will redesign the successful content of our current training course into a web course format. This will allow for broader dissemination and training convenience (training will be available 24 hours per day), at a significantly lower cost to trainees than our face-to-face training courses. (4) Enhance our capacity to disseminate ethics materials and information, and pursue the independent sustainability of this training program. All components will be comprehensively evaluated.
