Competence to give Informed Consent for Research Participation in Schizophrenia and Related Psychoses. [ 2001 - 2003 ]

Research Grant

Researchers: Prof Nicholas Keks (Principal investigator) ,  Prof David Copolov

Brief description There is current controversy surrounding the ethics of allowing people with mental illness to participate in research. By trying to safe guard what is considered a vulnerable group, we may also be denying these people their rights to make decisions for themselves. The potential benefits of clinical research in an area where treatments are often ineffective and cause serious side effects may also be denied to these people. This study aims to measure the capacities of patients with psychoses to give informed consent to participate in clinical research. The uniqueness of this project is that subjects will be rated as either competent or incompetent according to legal definitions applicable in Australia by utilising predetermined thresholds. We will also determine whether performance of patients in tests of competence can be improved through an established educational program. Additionally we plan to re-evaluate patients after a period of 6 months in order to test the reliability of competence performance.

Funding Amount $AUD 300,000.00

Funding Scheme NHMRC Project Grants

Notes Standard Project Grant