Key Population Ethical Consideration

Key Population and Ethical Consideration

Ethics in the course of research are critical to upholding the scientific integrity, dignity of participants, and the human rights of the participants. Observing these prerequisite principles ensures the participants in the study are informed, voluntary, and safe for the research subjects (Kaewkungwal & Adams, 2019). The population sampled for the study is the residents at Edmonton General Continuing Care Center (EGCCC), residents, doctors, residents’ families, physical therapists, and nurses. The researcher will be the nurse manager at EGCCC. Since the study focuses on an aging population’s adherence to ethical standards due to the vulnerability to decline in their mental and physical function. These challenges leave the population vulnerable to exploitation or manipulation.

To ensure the integrity of the information offered by the participants, the study will consider the demising vitality and the participant’s incapacitation of self-sufficiency. Selecting cognitively coherent participants is critical to ensure the reliability of the data collected. Consequently, participants who have been diagnosed with disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, will not be recruited since their lack of long-term memory limits their eligibility for the study (Wu et al., 2019). Selection of the participants will ensure diversity among participants to reflect the EGCCC’s population accordingly. The selection of relatively an equal or relatively the same number of participants in the population for males and females is essential to reflect the impact of inactivity due to the covid-19 restrictions at the EGCCC.

The core ethical considerations during the study will be the need to protect the health and wellbeing of the participants. As established, elderly populations are more vulnerable to manipulation or exploitation. Therefore, the participants selected will be informed and reminded regularly that they are participating in a study. Acquiring permission from the necessary authorities is critical to get the necessary guidance or adjustments to the study to meet the threshold in conducting studies with human subjects (Kaewkungwal & Adams, 2019). The consent of the participants after they are informed about the study will also be necessary to ensure they are aware of the activity they are signing up for. The information offered to the participants should establish what the study is about, the risks and benefits of participation, the duration of the study, and the contact information of the study supervisor or institution. The study will make sure all the participation is voluntary, and the participants are free to opt out at any time.

Keeping the identity of the participants anonymous is critical to encourage more honest responses during data collection. Hiding the identity of the participants is essential to keep their opinions or clinical information anonymous, which is persistent with the confidentiality requirements at health centers, such as EGCCC. The participant’s information will be encoded to conceal the identity and clinical information of the participants. This will also ensure participants have the option to withdraw their data provided at a later stage (Kaewkungwal & Adams, 2019). Since the researcher knows the identity of the participants, it will be required of them to uphold the confidentiality of participants. All personal identifiers will be kept anonymous to ensure the participants are safe and willing to contribute.

When dealing with an elderly population, an array of considerations that otherwise would not arise need to be considered; for example, age bias often arises since the elderly population is treated as a minority in unfavorable circumstances. Consequently, the nurse researcher will take a proactive role to strictly adhere to the standards of beneficence, justice, respect of persons, and nonmaleficence. The nurse manager will build trust, honor confidentiality, and demonstrate respect for the participants to ensure the elderly participants feel comfortable and ease communicating their needs or offering information (Wu et al., 2019). The perceived power imbalance could result in a change in the behavior leading to a decline in the integrity of the study. Ensuring that a nursing manager conducts the study will eradicate the perceived power imbalance through building trust and familiarity and avoiding biased responses.

Upholding the ethical principles of research in the recruitment of participants and the communication of the research results. These measures can be implemented by testing the validity and reliability of the data collected and in the data analysis procedures. During data collection, the participants might refuse to participate or withdraw before the onset of the data collection process (Kaewkungwal & Adams, 2019). To avert this circumstance, their nurse will prepare the participants through reminders about the interviews and what the interviews are about. The nurse researcher will also interact with the participants before the interview on different circumstances to familiarize them with the interview process and respond to any questions.

During data collection, an adverse event that might arise, to prevent the participants from any harm additional attendants in the emergency care unit will be on duty to attend to such scenarios. Some of the core concerns are the psychological and physical health of the participants. If there is a clinical incident, the participants will cease to participate in the study (Newman et al., 2021). The nurses in charge of the participant will also be notified to be alert if anything arises to attend to them accordingly. Developing a good relationship with the participant will be critical to ensure they communicate in case of any discomfort to offer them the necessary care.

Once the data collection process is complete, the access to the research data will be limited to the researcher, the nursing manager. The data will be categorized into subgroups where the data is similar. The recurring themes will be identified and coded into factors affecting the participants’ health for qualitative data. Where the data is quantitative, the descriptive statistics will be evaluated and regression analysis to offer insights to the researcher (Abrar & Sidik, 2019). The data analysis will make it possible to establish a correlation between the Covid-19 regulations, inactivity, and the decline in the health of residents at EGCCC due to the lack of physical activity. The emerging themes will be compared to the qualitative data gathered from the authors’ findings of the core reading in the literature review. Once the study is complete, the data collected will be sealed, and access limited to individuals authorized by the study supervisor or the approval of the department chairman.

Conflict of interest will arise when the patients misconstrue the interview process as a form of therapy or clinical intervention. Patients who confuse the interview for a form of clinical treatment might lead them to respond as though they were being questioned for treatment. Consequently, these would place the nurse in a compromising position by treating the participant. To avoid this confusion, the participants will be reminded regularly before and during the interview that their role is the interviewee. The vaccination protocol will also be observed to avoid collecting data at the expense of the participants’ welfare (Newman et al., 2021). Therefore, all the Covid-19 protocols will be observed in data collection to prevent a breakout at EGCCC. The participants’ health, dignity, and rights will be observed before, during, and after the interview to ensure the wellness of the participants is not compromised.