TY - JOUR PY - 2017// TI - Assuming vulnerability: ethical considerations in a multiple-case study with older suicide attempters JO - Research ethics A1 - Deuter, Kate A1 - Jaworski, Katrina SP - 161 EP - 172 VL - 13 IS - 3-4 N2 - In conceptualizing vulnerability, it is common for researchers to assume that some participants are more vulnerable on the basis of their membership of a particular group or because they exhibit particular characteristics. Older people are often viewed as inherently more vulnerable by ethics committees and the ethical guidelines committees construct. Because age alone does not confer or cause vulnerability, risk of harm to older research participants is not purely associated with their intrinsic connection to a vulnerable group, and classifying older research participants as vulnerable may not necessarily protect them from harm. Drawing on the preliminary findings of a qualitative study of older people who had survived a suicide attempt, we reflect on how the specific context of our study had the potential of framing older people as vulnerable, and describe ways in which these were managed and resolved. Specifically, we discuss potential for harm through the ethical principles of coercion and distress.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1747-0161 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1747016116649994 ID - ref1 ER -