Social validity of Research Ethics for All: Social-behavioral research ethics education for community research partners with developmental disabilities.

BACKGROUND

Training in research ethics supports community research partners with developmental disabilities to take on additional research responsibilities. We worked with an academic-community partnership to develop an accessible research ethics training tailored to the roles of community research partners with developmental disabilities that leads to certification: Research Ethics for All.

OBJECTIVE

We evaluated the social validity of the educational activities and certification process.

METHODS

We shared the training via a webinar and gathered feedback from attendees using polls (138 attendees; 92 respondents). In addition, four research teams composed of academic researchers and community research partners with developmental disabilities completed Research Ethics for All. Teams provided feedback on a series of surveys as they prepared to use the training, completed each of the 5 learning units, and after completing the training. We calculated descriptive statistics and used a pragmatic content analysis approach to analyze open-ended data.

RESULTS

Teams were satisfied with the training and felt it supported learning. They endorsed the videos and learning activities but thought videos should be shorter. 68.5% of webinar attendees felt that Research Ethics for All covers essential information in social-behavioral research ethics. Several IRBs have approved the use of Research Ethics for All.

CONCLUSIONS

Research Ethics for All is an acceptable research ethics training that may support community research partners with developmental disabilities to take on important research responsibilities in social-behavioral research.