Sexual assault victims participating in research: Causing harm when trying to help?

Louise Hjort Nielsen, Maj Hansen, Ask Elklit, Rikke Holm Bramsen

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

For fear of causing unnecessary distress, ethical concerns have been raised in regard to asking vulnerable persons e.g. sexually traumatized victims to participate in scientific research studies. The current study investigates how victims of sexual assault perceived participating in scientific research in regard to victims' psychological and/or physiological distress and potential beneficial outcomes from participation (N = 51). Results from interviews with victims indicated that the majority of victims of sexual assault who had taken part in the study considered their participation in research a positive experience causing little short- or long-term psychological or physiological distress. In addition, over half of the respondents reported some benefits from participation.

Original languageEnglish
JournalArchives of Psychiatric Nursing
Volume30
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)412-417
Number of pages6
ISSN0883-9417
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2016

Keywords

  • Adult
  • Crime Victims/psychology
  • Fear
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Disorders
  • Rape/psychology
  • Research Subjects/psychology
  • Sex Offenses/psychology
  • Stress, Psychological
  • Violence/psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Sexual assault victims participating in research: Causing harm when trying to help?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this