Ethical issues in multicentre collaborative research on breathlessness in lung cancer

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Nursing Research
• Medical Ethics

Background:

• Nurse-led clinics show promise for managing breathlessness in lung cancer patients.
• Multicentre collaborative research presents unique ethical challenges.
• Ethical frameworks are crucial for ensuring participant welfare and research integrity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the ethical issues in developing a multicentre collaborative research project for a nurse-led breathlessness clinic in lung cancer.
• To identify the ethical focus within the relationships between coordinating researchers, collaborating centre researchers, and research participants.
• To explore the application of new paradigm and action research principles to ethical research conduct.

Main Methods:

• The study is a randomized controlled trial.
• Ethical considerations are examined through the lens of researcher-participant and inter-centre researcher relationships.
• Parallels are drawn between the project and new paradigm research principles.

Main Results:

• The framework of relationships is central to ethical attention in multicentre research.
• New paradigm and action research principles offer a foundation for ethical research.
• Focusing on researcher-participant interaction quality is key to ethical conduct.

Conclusions:

• Ethical development of multicentre research requires careful attention to relational dynamics.
• Principles of new paradigm and action research can guide ethical research practices.
• Prioritizing the quality of researcher-participant interaction is essential for ethical research in nurse-led clinics.