What is respect for autonomy?
Respect for autonomy is a foundational principle in bioethics and research ethics. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing and respecting an individual’s rights to make their own informed consent about their own lives and bodies. So, essentially, autonomy in this context refers to the ability of individuals to govern their actions and make choices that is aligned with their values, beliefs, and preferences and it deals with informed consent, voluntariness, disclosure of information, respect of diverse values and beliefs, privacy and confidentiality, and the right to refuse to participate. You have to take note that you cannot coerce or you cannot force anyone who will be included to participate into a research. Kailangan may autonomy; right of an individual to accept, to participate or refuse to participate in the study. Sa informed consent, when we talked about autonomy, even if they agreed to participate and in the middle of the implementation, they don’t want anymore to participate, pwede yon. It is allowed. Kasi nga research ethics, essentially, one of the seven basic principles is autonomy. That encompasses, yun yung protection ng isang participant o ng isang respondent. So again, it has legal issues and impact. Sabi ko nga hindi naman ako abogado to know yung deeper impact of legal issues of autonomy. However, in terms of ethics, we really follow through that basic human rights and right of the person either to accept, to participate or not to participate in the research and or to voluntarily participate.
What is the principle of beneficence?
Okay, from the word itself, beneficence, meaning benefit. So the principles of beneficence is a fundamental ethical principle in various fields which includes bioethics, health care and research ethics. So, hindi lang kasi yung beneficence inaano sa research ethics, but also in other areas, lalo na doon sa area namin which is health care. But for the benefit of those na nagreresearch, it is really important in research ethics. So, beneficence is the ethical obligation to promote the well-being and welfare of individuals. Meaning, dapat pag nagparticipate siya doon sa research, may benefit na makukuha ang participants kasi may benefit na nakukuha ang researcher diba. Number one is the information. So dapat yung participants din meron siyang makukuhang benefit kasi mutualistic dapat yung relationship. With a focus on maximizing the benefits and minimizing the harm. Dapat mas malamang yung benefit na makukuha ng participants kaysa doon sa harm.
What is justice in the context of research ethics?
In the context of research ethics, justice is one of the fundamental ethical principles that guide the fair and equitable treatment of individuals and groups involved in research. The principle of justice is concerned with ensuring the benefits and burden of research are distributed fairly and that all individuals have equal access to the benefits of research participation. When we say justice, there should be an equal treatment. Say for example, in a quasi-experimental study, one will not receive any treatment, the other will receive a treatment. Hindi pwede yon. Kailangan each would receive a treatment. One can be a control which has a treatment and the other would be an experimental. Yon yung sinasabi na justice, okay.
