Ethical issues in the design and conduct of stepped-wedge cluster randomized trials in low-resource settings.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Stepped-wedge cluster randomized trials (SW-CRTs) are increasingly popular in health-related research in both high- and low-resource settings. There may be specific ethical issues that researchers face when designing and conducting SW-CRTs in low-resource settings. Knowledge of these issues can help to improve the ethical conduct of SW-CRTs in a global health context.

Methods

We performed an ethical analysis of two studies using SW-CRT designs in low-resource settings: the Que Vivan Las Madres study conducted from 2014 to 2017 in Guatemala and the Atmiyata study conducted from 2017 to 2018 in rural parts of India. For both case studies, we identified and evaluated the classification of the study as research or nonresearch and the ethical issues regarding the justi

SUBMITTER: Joag K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6921381 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature