Consent
Iain Mactier, Paul McConnell
Anaesthesia & Intensive Care Medicine, 13 July 2023
Abstract
Consent is a fundamental ethical and legal principle in good medical practice. A patient must have capacity to provide informed consent. There are four key principles that need to be satisfied when establishing if a patient has capacity. For consent to be valid, the patient must be made aware of all associated risks to which they would attach significance. Information provided to patients should be individualized, objective and include all reasonable alternatives. It should be made clear if a procedure is optional, for example, an analgesic regional nerve block. Questions should be encouraged and answered honestly. Patients need adequate time to consider all the information provided. The consent process should be documented but a separate signed consent form is not required for most anaesthetic interventions. Some patients may have an advance care directive or a legally appointed power of attorney and these must be respected. When a patient has not made such arrangements and does not have capacity, treatment should be provided in accordance with their best interests. This must be individualized and consider multiple factors. Specialist advice should be sought in circumstances where there is uncertainty.

Gaining Consent to Survey Respondents’ Partners: The Importance of Anchors’ Survey Experience in Self administered Modes
Tobias Gummer, Pablo Christmann, Tanja Kunz
Comparative Population Studies, 6 July 2023; 48 pp 281-306
Open Access
Abstract
Dyadic surveys aim to interview pairs of respondents, such as partners in a relationship. In dyadic surveys, it is often necessary to obtain the anchors’ consent to contact their partners and invite them to a survey. If the survey is operated in self-administered modes, no interviewer is present to improve the consent rate, for example, by providing convincing arguments and additional information. To overcome the challenges posed by self-administered modes for dyadic surveys and to improve consent rates, it is important to identify aspects that positively influence the likelihood of anchors giving consent to contact their partners. Ideally, these aspects are in the hands of the researchers, such as the survey design and aspects of the questionnaire. Thus, in this study, we analyzed the relationship between anchors’ survey experience and their willingness to consent to surveying their partners in self-administered modes. Based on data from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA), we found that the anchors’ perceptions of the questionnaire as “interesting” or “too personal” were related to consent rates. These relationships were consistent across different survey modes and devices. Effects of other aspects of the questionnaire, such as “important for science” and “diverse” varied between modes and devices. We concluded with practical recommendations for survey research and an outlook for future research.

Informed Consent: A Monthly Review
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July 2023 :: Issue 55

This digest aggregates and distills key content addressing informed consent from a broad spectrum of peer-reviewed journals and grey literature, and from various practice domains and organization types including international agencies, INGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortiums and collaborations, foundations, and commercial organizations. We acknowledge that this scope yields an indicative and not an exhaustive digest product.

Informed Consent: A Monthly Review is a service of the Center for Informed Consent Integrity, a program of the GE2P2 Global Foundation. The Foundation is solely responsible for its content. Comments and suggestions should be directed to:

Editor
Paige Fitzsimmons, MA
Associate Director, Center for Informed Consent Integrity
GE2P2 Global Foundation
paige.fitzsimmons@ge2p2global.org

PDF Version: Center for Informed Consent Integrity – A Monthly Review_July 2023

To find out how knowledgeable patients at tertiary care institutions are about giving informed consent and receiving counseling
Original Research
Mohammad Sufyan
Journal Of Cardiovascular Disease Research, 26 March 2023; 4(14)
Abstract
Aim
The purpose of this study is to find out how knowledgeable patients at tertiary care institutions are about giving informed consent and receiving counseling.
Material and Methods
Two groups made up the whole of the research: the first group consisted of fifty surgical trainees from general surgery, orthopaedics, obstetrics, and ENT, while the second group included fifty patients who had had a variety of surgical procedures. Both groups were exposed to the identical conditions over the same time period of the research. For the purpose of determining whether or not the counselling session addressed all of the essential components of providing informed consent for the surgical treatment, we have developed a systematic questionnaire.
Results
The final analysis took into account each of the 50 residents as well as the 50 patients. The risks and repercussions of the procedure were described in detail by 45 (or 90%) of the resident physicians as one of the most important aspects of the informed consent process. Natural history, the progression of the illness, and the prognosis were discussed by 19 resident physicians (38 percent), but alternative therapies and the name of the procedure were cited by 17 (34 percent) and 15 (30 percent), respectively. The patients themselves gave their permission in 37 (74%) of the instances, while their spouses gave their consent in 13 (26%) of the cases. Verbal permission was selected by 35 surgeons (70%) while written consent was selected by 15 surgeons (30%) as the technique of choice for getting agreement for minor operations and local anesthesia.
Conclusion
By adding patient counseling and intensifying patient selection, it is possible to increase both the overall happiness of patients and the results overall. A template for informed consent that includes all of the necessary information and leaves flexibility for customization needs to be established so that the process of obtaining informed consent may be completed more quickly.

Chapter 4 Capacity-Increasing Technologies and the Problems of Informed Consent
Book Chapter
Military Ethics and the Changing Nature of Warfare, 2023 [Brill]
Jean-François Caron
Abstract
Obtaining informed consent from members of the armed forces prior to their use of capacity-increasing technologies or medicines is plagued by numerous hurdles. This chapter argues that there are reasons to rethink the relevance of this criterion in favor of rethinking how these technologies and medicines ought to be tested in their developmental phase.

Informed Consent: A Monthly Review
_________________

June 2023 :: Issue 54

This digest aggregates and distills key content addressing informed consent from a broad spectrum of peer-reviewed journals and grey literature, and from various practice domains and organization types including international agencies, INGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortiums and collaborations, foundations, and commercial organizations. We acknowledge that this scope yields an indicative and not an exhaustive digest product.

Informed Consent: A Monthly Review is a service of the Center for Informed Consent Integrity, a program of the GE2P2 Global Foundation. The Foundation is solely responsible for its content. Comments and suggestions should be directed to:

Editor
Paige Fitzsimmons, MA
Associate Director, Center for Informed Consent Integrity
GE2P2 Global Foundation
paige.fitzsimmons@ge2p2global.org
PDF Version: Center for Informed Consent Integrity – A Monthly Review_June 2023

Introducing Empowered Consent to Deal With the Current Challenges in Applied Sport Psychology
Niels Boysen Feddersen
Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 12 May 2023
Abstract
There has been a paucity of literature discussing how to address consent procedures as part of ethics, practitioner development, and best practice in applied sport psychology. Several researchers have addressed ethical challenges (e.g., out-of-session contact, overidentification, time, and space). However, none have substantially considered the sport-specific issues related to consent, which sits at the heart of best practice. The scarcity of discussing consent is limiting sport psychology’s potential to establish itself as a more recognized profession. This article highlights some contextual issues that challenge the idea and efficacy of informed consent. It proposes adapting consent procedures in the collaboration between sport psychology practitioners and clients to better address the current contextual challenges in applied sport psychology. In doing so, the current paper introduces Empowered Consent, which is specifically designed to empower athletes and address challenges related to choosing interventions, contractual obligations, visibility in the environment, and staff trying to gain insights into confidential information. The author offers a model to enhance applied practice for those collaborating with athletes and other clients in sport.

Consent, Background Justice and Patterned Privacy Principles
Molly Powell
Political Studies, 27 April 2023
Open Access
Abstract
Notice and consent approaches, being the most prevalent legal frameworks, have in recent years come under fire. I suggest they fail because they rest on a historical approach to privacy justice, whereby the justice of a particular state of affairs is a function of whether each transaction on the way was just. Instead, I make use of a background justice framing. Even where consent is present it is inadequate to secure the values at stake. When we only assess the fairness or freedom of individual information transactions, we fail to see the way many can undercut the very values we seek to secure by requiring consent for disclosures in the first place. I propose a patterned principle to regulate the distribution of individual control over privacy, and to set the background against which individual notice and consent can still play a role, albeit a limited one.

A Structure, Understanding, Recent Developments and New Definition for Consent
ResearchGate, April 2023
Scott McLachlan, Kudakwashe Dube, Yvonne Choi, Samir Saidi, Louise Rose, Norman Fenton
Abstract
Consent to medical intervention is a core legal concept that is ubiquitous and yet continues to frustrate governments, organisations, researchers and the wider community. Most requests for consent incorporate only those elements immediately required to meet ethics review board or organisational definitions, absent a holistic view of all elements that make up the concept of true fully informed consent. As a consequence, most methods and applications of consent could be characterised as incomplete, possibly because there are few works that have sought to consolidate our understanding of consent, the consent process, and the methods used in different applications. This paper addresses this gap by reviewing and consolidating the literature, characterising and redefining consent and exploring the ways in which consent is obtained. We present a new consent framework synthesised from philosophical, practical and application models. This framework is presented in the context of contemporary events of global importance. We define consent as “Revocable words or actions freely performed by a person who is capable and aware that create agreement with another party to permit some specific act”. This paper contributes to our ongoing understanding and future development of consent as a normative medico-legal process and provides a definitive framework which enables those involved in the consent process to ensure that all aspects necessary for fully informed consent are addressed.

Informed Consent: A Monthly Review
_________________

May 2023 :: Issue 53

This digest aggregates and distills key content addressing informed consent from a broad spectrum of peer-reviewed journals and grey literature, and from various practice domains and organization types including international agencies, INGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortiums and collaborations, foundations, and commercial organizations. We acknowledge that this scope yields an indicative and not an exhaustive digest product.

Informed Consent: A Monthly Review is a service of the Center for Informed Consent Integrity, a program of the GE2P2 Global Foundation. The Foundation is solely responsible for its content. Comments and suggestions should be directed to:

Editor
Paige Fitzsimmons, MA
Associate Director, Center for Informed Consent Integrity
GE2P2 Global Foundation
paige.fitzsimmons@ge2p2global.org
PDF Version: Center for Informed Consent Integrity – A Monthly Review_May 2023