CHALLENGES FACED BY RESEARCH ETHICS COMMITTEES IN ELSALVADOR: RESULTS FROM A FOCUS GROUP STUDY

摘要

Objective: To identify perceived barriers to capacity building forlocal research ethics oversight in El Salvador, and to set an agendafor international collaborative capacity building. Methods: Focus groups were formed in El Salvador which included17 local clinical investigators and members of newly formedresearch ethics committees. Information about the proposedresearch was presented to participants during an internationalbioethics colloquium sponsored and organized by the St. Jude Chil-dren's Research Hospital in collaboration with the National EthicsCommittee of El Salvador and the University of El Salvador. Inter-views with the focus group participants were qualitatively analyzed. Results: Participants expressed the need to tailor the informedconsent process and documentation to the local culture; forexample, allowing family members to participate in decision-making,and employing shorter consent forms. Participants indicated thateconomic barriers often impede efforts in local capacity building.Participants valued international collaboration for mutual capacitybuilding in research ethics oversight. Conclusions: Research ethics committees in El Salvador possess abasic knowledge of locally relevant ethical principles, though theyneed more training to optimize the application of bioethical principlesand models to their particular contexts. Challenges increase the valueof collaborative exchanges with ethics committee members in theUnited States. Further research on facilitating communicationbetween host country and sponsor country ethics committees canmaximize local research ethics expertise, and thus raise the standardof protecting human participants involved in international research.