Teaching About Systemic Ethical Misconduct Increases Awareness of Ethical Principles: A Replication and Extension of Grose-Fifer’s (2017) Tuskegee Role-Play Activity

Abstract

Background:

Introductory Psychology students rarely learn about unethical biomedical research outside the Tuskegee syphilis study, but these practices were widespread in U.S. public health research (e.g., at the Willowbrook State School researchers infected children with disabilities with hepatitis).

Objectives:

Replicate and extend Grose-Fifer’s research ethics activity by evaluating if an online homework and in-class role-play increased awareness of unethical research and abuses at Tuskegee (replication) and Willowbrook (extension) and subsequent changes in human subjects protections.

Method:

As homework, students read about the studies and wrote statements from perspectives of individuals involved. In class, students read their statements and discussed how outrage led to research conduct regulations. Online pre/posttests asked students why it was important to learn about both studies.

Results:

At posttest, students were more aware of unethical research at Willowbrook and that Tuskegee led to changes in human subjects protections. Students who completed the role-play activity were less likely to mention abuses for Tuskegee than students who did not participate.

Conclusion:

We were partially successful in replicating and extending Grose-Fifer.

Teaching Implications:

Research ethics instruction should draw attention to historical precedents and how public outrage and social activism led to increased protections for research participants.

Keywords

ethics active learning instructional methods role-play Tuskegee syphilis study Willowbrook State School

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Psychological Association. (2013, August). APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major: Version 2.0. https://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/about/psymajor-guidelines.pdf

Antes

A. L.

(2014). A systematic approach to instruction in research ethics. Accountability in Research, 21(1), 50–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/08989621.2013.822269

Beecher

H. K.

(1966). Ethics and clinical research. The New England Journal of Medicine, 274(24), 1354–1360.

Brummel

B. J.

Gunsalus

C. K.

Anderson

K. L.

Loui

M. C.

(2010). Development of role-play scenarios for teaching responsible conduct of research. Science and Engineering Ethics, 16(3), 573–589. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-010-9221-7

Cohen

(1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Dugger

C. W.

(1993, March 12). Big day for ex-residents of center for the retarded. New York Times . https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/12/nyregion/big-day-for-ex-residents-of-center-for-the-retarded.html

Fisher

(1997, February). Unforgotten: Twenty-five years after Willowbrook. [Video]. Streaming service. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcjRIZFQcUY

Gamer

Lemon

Fellows

Singh

(2012). Irr: Various coefficients of interrater reliability and agreement. R package version 0.84.1. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/irr/irr.pdf

Goode

Hill

Reiss

Bronston

(2013). A history and sociology of the Willowbrook state school. American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

10.

Grose-Fifer

(2017). Using role-play to enhance critical thinking about ethics in psychology. In Obeid

Schwartz

Shane-Simpson

Brooks

P. J.

(Eds.), How we teach now: The GSTA guide to student-centered teaching (pp. 213–232). [eBook]. http://teachpsych.org/resources/Documents/ebooks/gstaebook.pdf

11.

Jones

D. S.

Grady

Lederer

S. E.

(2016). Ethics and clinical research: The 50th anniversary of Beecher’s bombshell. New England Journal of Medicine, 374(24), 2393–2398. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMms1603756

12.

Kember

Hong

(2008). The importance of establishing relevance in motivating student learning. Active Learning in Higher Education, 9(3), 249–263. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787408095849

13.

Krugman

(1986). The Willowbrook hepatitis studies revisited: Ethical aspects. Reviews of Infectious Diseases, 8(1), 157–162. https://doi.org/10.1093/clinids/8.1.157

14.

Krugman

Ward

Giles

J. P.

(1962). The natural history of infectious hepatitis. The American Journal of Medicine, 32(5), 717–728. https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9343(62)90161-4

15.

Lilienfeld

S. O.

Lynn

S. J.

Namy

L. L.

(2017). Research methods. Psychology: From inquiry to understanding (4th ed.). (pp. 67–69). Pearson.

16.

List of medical ethical cases. (2021, January 25). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_ethics_cases

17.

List of scientific misconduct incidents. (2021, January 23). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scientific_misconduct_incidents

18.

Pfund

R. A.

Norcross

J. C.

Hailstorks

Stamm

K. E.

Christidis

(2018). Introduction to psychology: Course purposes, learning outcomes, and assessment practices. Teaching of Psychology, 45(3), 213–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628318779257

19.

Reverby

S. M

. (2009). Examining Tuskegee: The infamous syphilis study and its legacy. University of North Carolina Press.

20.

Reverby

S. M.

(2012). Ethical failures and history lessons: The U.S. public health service research studies in Tuskegee and Guatemala. Public Health Reviews, 34(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03391665

21.

Robinson

W. M.

Unruh

B. T.

(2008). The hepatitis experiments at the Willowbrook state school. In Emanuel

E. J.

Grady

Crouch

R. A.

Lie

R. K.

Miller

F. G.

Wendler

(Eds.), The Oxford textbook of clinical research ethics (pp. 80–85). Oxford University Press.

22.

Rose

M. C.

Brodsky

Che

E. S.

Brooks

P. J.

(2021, March 29). Supplemental materials. Teaching about systemic ethical misconduct increases awareness of ethical principles: A replication and extension of Grose-Fifer’s (2017) Tuskegee role-play activity. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/Q9MYV

23.

Rosnow

R. L.

(1990). Teaching research ethics through role-play and discussion. Teaching of Psychology, 17(3), 179–181. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top1703_10

24.

Rothman

D. J.

(1982). Were Tuskegee & Willowbrook ‘studies in nature’? Hastings Center Report, 12(2), 5–7. https://doi.org/10.2307/3561798

25.

Rothman

D. J.

Rothman

S. M.

(2005). The Willowbrook wars: Bringing the mentally disabled into the community. Harper & Row.

26.

Ruiz

(2009, May). Ethics in the introduction to psychology course. Observer, 22(5). https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/ethics-in-the-introduction-to-psychology-course

27.

Sieber

J. E.

Saks

M. J.

(1989). A census of subject pool characteristics and policies. American Psychologist, 44(7), 1053–1061. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.44.7.1053

28.

Sinclair

(2017). Ethics in psychology: Recalling the past, acknowledging the present, and looking to the future. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 58(1), 20–29. https://doi.org/10.1037/cap0000086

29.

Strohmetz

D. B.

Skleder

A. A.

(1992). The use of role-play in teaching research ethics: A validation study. Teaching of Psychology, 19(2), 106–108. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328023top1902_11

30.

Thomas

S. B.

Quinn

S. C.

(1991). The Tuskegee syphilis study, 1932 to 1972: Implications for HIV education and AIDS risk education programs in the black community. American Journal of Public Health, 81(11), 1498–1505. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.81.11.1498

31.

Todd

E. M.

Torrence

B. S.

Watts

L. L.

Mulhearn

T. J.

Connelly

Mumford

M. D.

(2017). Effective practices in the delivery of research ethics education: A qualitative review of instructional methods. Accountability in Research, 24(5), 297–321. https://doi.org/10.1080/08989621.2017.1301210

32.

Watts

L. L.

Medeiros

K. E.

Mulhearn

T. J.

Steele

L. M.

Connelly

Mumford

M. D.

(2016). Are ethics training programs improving? A meta-analytic review of past and present ethics instruction in the sciences. Ethics and Behavior, 27(5), 351–384. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2016.1182025

33.

Weiser

(2020, February 21). Beatings, burns and betrayal: The Willowbrook scandal’s legacy. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/nyregion/willowbrook-state-school-staten-island.html

34.

You

Ruiz

Warchal

(2018). The presentation of ethics in undergraduate psychology syllabi: A review. Teaching of Psychology, 45(4), 346–350. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628318796921

35.

Zucchero

R. A.

(2008). Can psychology ethics effectively be integrated into introductory psychology? Journal of Academic Ethics, 6, 245–257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-009-9070-7

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.19 MB

0.00 MB