Ethical practices and beliefs of psychotherapy researchers in Latin America

BRAUN, MALENA; LEIBOVICH DE DUARTE, ADELA; ROUSSOS, ANDRES

Asilomar, California

Congreso; 41st Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research,; 2010

Society for Psychotherapy Research

This study investigated the ethical practices and beliefs of psychotherapy researchers in Latin America. A self-developed online survey was sent to 114 psychotherapy researchers in Latin America (mostly SPR members) in order to picture the current state of affairs. The survey inquired in aspects related to: ethical research training; institutional requirements; data management (storing, sharing and recording); use of clinical excerpts or vignettes; criteria for authorship; among others. 78 completed surveys were received (68% response rate) and the sample included senior and junior researchers with different levels of dedication to research. An adequate representation of SPR membership was reflected with subjects from Argentina (n=33), Brazil (n=19), Chile (n=16) and Uruguay (n= 8). It was noteworthy that only 23% reported having taken a formal course in ethical training. Yet, 80% consider that formal training is useful for the prevention of ethical transgressions. The ways of obtaining informed consent presented disagreement, with 58% obtaining informed consent both orally and written, 27% presenting the consent in only a written manner, and 11% obtaining consent in only an oral manner. Results about disagreement among researchers as to what practices are considered unethical will be presented, as well as the various forms of ethical flaws admitted by researchers. These flaws, although mostly minor, helped us understand why ethical transgressions occurred.