ETHICS OF SUBSTANCE USE TREATMENT RESEARCH WITH YOUTH MANDATED TO TREATMENT

Principal Investigator: Dr. Stacy R. Ryan-Pettes

Sponsor: Fordham University Research Ethics Training Institute (RETI)

Funding Agency: Baylor University

Study Title: Justice-Involved Youth and Caregiver Concerns about Consenting to Substance Use Treatment Research

Substance using adolescents involved in Juvenile Drug Courts (JDCs) are vulnerable research participants in three ways: 1) they are minors (45CFR46, subpart D); 2) they are subject to formal and informal authority of the juvenile justice system; and 3) they are mandated to treatment for substance use, and with it formal sanctions are imposed for noncompliance. Because JDC-involved youth are required to enroll in substance use treatment, recruiting them into substance use treatment-research, specifically, poses serious ethical issues. In this project, we propose to investigate the bioethical implications of drug treatment-research with justice-involved youth who are required to receive treatment for substance use.  While researchers have outlined special considerations when working with justice-involved populations and provided strategies for how to uphold ethical principles when conducting research with justice-involved populations, there are no empirical research ethics studies that examine participant perceptions of voluntariness, coercion, and undue pressure when enrolling in substance use treatment research. This study will address this gap in knowledge by conducting the first empirical research ethics project on this topic. Specifically, this study will recruit adolescents with a requirement to enroll in substance use treatment and their legal guardian and conduct an in-depth interview to examine perceived risk and benefits to participating in treatment research.