ETHICAL ASPECTS OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE IN SOCIAL RESEARCH ON MENTAL HEALTH: RESULTS OF A PILOT STUDY

The ethical requirements that have guided social studies on health issues are those postulated by biomedical research. The provisions of the international codes and declarations on ethics are relevant; however, little is known about their application in social research on mental health. For this reason, the purpose of this paper is to describe how social scientists apply some of the aspects mostly recommended by international documents for studies with human subjects. These ethical aspects include the informed consent, the favorable risk/benefit proportion and the fair selection of subjects. Therefore, the research conducted forms part of a descriptive study in which a pilot survey was conducted by applying an electronic questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by a group of social scientists, both men and women, who work in various fields of mental health research (violence, addictions or suicide), with prior informed consent. The results indicate that most of the researchers in this sample considered the application of informed consent, the risk/benefit proportion and the fair selection of subjects in social research to be admissible. However, there are certain particular elements of social studies that may question the application of these ethical components. As a result, the inter-relationships that arise in a studied social context must be considered in order to clarify a pertinent application