This study appeared in full in the last issue of Research Ethics Review (2007; 3(1): 18). Rowena Jones is an obstetrician working in a busy hospital for women. Her research focuses on changes in women's brains during pregnancy1. Rowena plans to use magnetic resonance imaging to record images of the brains of women in the second and third trimesters and after birth at 6 and 24 weeks. Her sample consists of two groups of healthy women with uncomplicated and singleton pregnancies, the first primigravid and the second multiparous. There will be a minimum of five and a maximum of ten women in each group.
References
1.
National Research Ethics Service Information Sheets and consent forms. Guidance for researchers and reviewers Version 3.1: 2007 available at http://www.nres.npsa.nhs.uk/.
2.
BeauchampTLChildressJF. Principles of biomedical ethics. 5th edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press2001.
3.
INVOLVE: Promoting public involvement in NHS, public health and social care research. http://www.invo.org.uk.
4.
Department of Health (2005) Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care. 2nd edn.London: DOH 2005.
5.
OatridgeAHoldcroftASaeedNHajnalJVPuriBKFusiLBydderGM. Change in brain size during and after pregnancy: study in healthy women and women with preeclampsia. Am J Neuroradiol.2002; 23: 19–26.
