RESEARCH ON DECISIONALLY IMPAIRED ELDERS - A SPECIAL ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON HUMAN RESEARCH ETHICS (JERHRE)

Special Issue Editor of JERHRE, Dr. James J. Kelly, encourages gerontological researchers to submit Abstracts for papers that address the ethical and practical issues of research with decisionally impaired elders. JERHRE is an international journal devoted solely to evidence-based ethical problem solving in human research. Current and prior issues of JERHRE may be accessed via UC Press at caliber.ucpress.net/loi/jer, or via JSTOR, or PubMed (for NIH sponsored research).

Decisionally impaired elders include, but are not limited to, elders with memory disorders in late life; elders with a mental or physical illness that affects cognition and decisional capacity; dually diagnosed elders; mentally disabled elders; and elders with health crises that render them incapable of giving informed consent. These elders may be found and studied in a variety of care environments, including private homes, hospitals, and congregate care facilities

Gerontologists conduct research to better the lives of decisionally impaired elders, as well as those who care about and care for them. This research carries special challenges: while promoting new knowledge, researchers must simultaneously seek to maintain core values. These include respect for the individual; maximal preservation of personal autonomy; support for human worth and dignity; a focus on client strengths; and respect for the rights of human subjects. How can researchers conduct studies that are rigorous and meaningful, and also honor these values?

Researchers working with members of this vulnerable population often face challenges regarding issues such as recruitment; the capacity to consent for participation in research; and unrealistic or impractical Institutional Review Board (IRB) requirements. In addition to papers focused directly on the relationship between researchers and research participants or caregivers, papers might also focus on investigator interactions with IRBs; IRB deliberations related to protocols; and the role of consultations by IRBs with experts in aging and cognition.

Papers may present qualitative or qualitative data, theory, methodology, or policy analysis, and should be written with a focus on usefulness to researchers, teachers of research methodology, and research administrators including ethics committee members. Theoretical papers should pose empirical questions that elucidate theory, and should include a research agenda for empirical study. Authors may also submit case studies that are analytic or present policy implications. Papers with strong international perspectives and implications are welcomed.

Submitted papers will undergo three blinded peer reviews. It is the policy of the Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics (JERHRE) that authors may nominate one of the peer reviewers (an expert in the topic of the paper, who has no conflict of interest).

Authors should follow the JERHRE publication guidelines
at www.csueastbay.edu/JERHRE/man.html

Timeline: Final papers will be due no later than July 1, 2011, for an anticipated publication date of 2012.

Please email Abstracts no later than February 1, 2011 to jkelly@menlo.edu Each Abstract should state the purpose and rationale for the proposed paper, proposed methods (e.g., qualitative or quantitative research on some aspect of an ethically relevant problem in research, literature review, policy analysis, case study), and intended outcome. Abstracts should not exceed 250 words.

Authors may also submit queries to Dr. Kelly at this e-mail address.

The Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics is published by the University of California Press. Dr. Kelly is President of the National Association of Social Workers and President of Menlo College, Atherton, California.