Awareness of Jordanian investigators about the importance of ethics review committees: a pilot study

Awareness of Jordanian investigators about the importance of ethics review committees: a pilot study

Rababa'h, Abeer M.
Alzoubi, Karem H.
Ababneh, Mera
Khabour, Omar

English

20200400

Protection of study participants is an integral function of the Institutional Review Board (IRB). Recently, great efforts were dedicated to enhance investigators' awareness of ethical principles in conducting human research and to implement reviewing committees' standards in Jordan to ensure the transparency, versatility, and responsibility in handling human subjects research in the country. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the awareness and attitudes of healthcare investigators in Jordan towards the structure and importance of IRBs. A questionnaire was distributed to 200 investigators and graduate students from the Jordan University of Science and Technology. The majority of the responses indicated positive knowledge towards core ethics guidelines and the importance of IRBs. This includes beneficence, confidentiality, informed consent, and treating participants with respect. In addition, the majority of participants (> 82%) agreed on the importance of the IRB for ensuring the rights, safety, and well-being of the research subjects. Moreover, the majority of participants (> 80%) agreed that the IRB members should be trained on ethics regulations in conducting research and declare any conflict of interest with the investigators. On the other hand, about 30% of participants believed that being reviewed by the IRB would delay research and make it more difficult for the researcher. Jordanian investigators have good awareness of and knowledge about research ethics and the importance of IRBs, though more education is needed.

18.2

18.2

attitudes [pri]; researchers ]pri]; research ethics committees [pri]

education; empirical research; questionnaire; regulation; research ethics; research subjects

Jordan

Jordan University of Science and Technology

Science and Engineering Ethics. 2020 April; 26(2): 821-831

Copyright © 2019, Springer Nature B.V.

j

35 refs

13533452 (print); 14715546 (online)