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National Science Foundation Award #0527351

DRU: Collaborative Research Developing a Measure of Voluntary Consent for Protocol-Based Treatment Decisions

 
Investigator(s): Mary Frances Luce (PI)
Sponsor: Duke University, NC 27708 9196843030
Start Date/Expiration Date 2006-01-15 to 2008-12-31 (amended 2006-01-23)
Awarded Amount to Date: $119,089
Abstract: The individual choice to participate in research (i.e., consent) should be both informed and voluntary. To date, the empirical study of consent has focused on the information (i.e., what a person knows) and decision-making aspects (i.e., how a person processes information) of consent. Few empirical studies examine the voluntary nature of consent, largely because of the lack of an instrument to measure "voluntariness." Absent such an instrument, it is difficult to distinguish between appropriate and "undue" influences on informed consent. The primary goal of this project is to develop a valid and reliable measure of voluntary consent (called the "decision-making control instrument" or DMCI), focusing on parental decisions about protocol-based treatment of seriously ill children. The project involves three phases. First, we will create a list of candidate items for the DMCI instrument based on focus groups with eligible parents, clinician-investigators, study coordinators and other non-physician clinicians. Second, we will develop a DMCI pilot instrument by administering the candidate items and other selected measures of decision-making preference, coping style and affect to parents who have made a decision concerning protocol-based treatment for their ill child. Third, we will administer the DMCI pilot instrument along with interviews of parents to explore the instrument's ability to capture their own perceptions of the control they exercised over the decision.
NSF Org: SES - Division of Social and Economic Sciences
Award Number: 0527351
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Robert E. O'Connor
SES Division of Social and Economic Sciences
SBE Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences
NSF Program(s): HSD - DEC, RISK & UNCERTAINTY
Field Application(s): Human Subjects
Program Reference Code(s): DEC. MAKING RISK & UNCERTAINTY, 7322
UNASSIGNED, 0000
Program Element Code(s): 7322