The history and current status of competence and informed consent in psychiatric research

Informed consent to research has recently become a focus of public attention as questions have been raised about the adequacy of information disclosed to potential research subjects and about the competence of psychiatric research subjects to provide valid informed consent to participate in potentially high risk studies. Around the world, policies and position statements have been written to address these concerns and to offer suggestions to protect potentially vulnerable research subjects, such as persons with neuropsychiatric disorders. Relevant literature has demonstrated that a subset of persons with such disorders have significant competence-related deficits, and thus may require specific means of protection with regard to informed consent to research. Recent guidelines offered to improve the informed consent process include review of potential studies for scientific merit and potential risk, assessment of subject competence to consent to research, and the use of proxy decision-makers when subjects are deemed incompetent.