Nurses' experiences of ethical preparedness for public health emergencies and healthcare disasters: a systematic review of qualitative evidence

Little is known about nurses' direct experiences of ethical preparedness for dealing with catastrophic public health emergencies and healthcare disasters or the ethical quandaries that may arise during such events. A systematic literature review was undertaken to explore and synthesize qualitative research literature reporting nurses' direct experiences of being prepared for and managing the ethical challenges posed by catastrophic public health emergencies and healthcare disasters. Twenty-six research studies were retrieved for detailed examination and assessed by two independent reviewers for methodological validity prior to inclusion in the review. Of these, 12 studies published between 1973 and 2011 were deemed to meet the inclusion criteria and were critically appraised. The review confirmed there is a significant gap in the literature on nurses' experiences of ethical preparedness for managing public health emergencies and healthcare disasters, and the ethical quandaries they encounter during such events. This finding highlights the need for ethical considerations in emergency planning, preparedness, and response by nurses to be given more focused attention in the interests of better informing the ethical basis of emergency disaster management.

A quandary in management practice: Academic research or consulting?

This paper compares the practice of academic action research against management consulting. Consulting is founded upon a body of underpinning knowledge drawn from a different perspective than action research. Nevertheless, consulting and action research, in practice, draw from similar methods of investigation. The difficulty in distinguishing action research from consulting adds to unique ethical problems in practice. In this paper, an ethics quandary is identified, defined and explored with implications for research practice. An example of an action research project is presented to highlight the potential ethical dilemma and conflict of interest points of
the investigation, whether as an academic or a consultant. The authors, by crystallising the boundaries of academic action research and consulting posit that, when designed and executed well, risk can be minimised to gather rich and deep insights into management practice.

Ethical trust and social moral norms simulation : a bio-inspired agent-based modelling approach

The understanding of the micro-macro link is an urgent need in the study of social systems. The complex adaptive nature of social systems adds to the challenges of understanding social interactions and system feedback and presents substantial scope and potential for extending the frontiers of computer-based research tools such as simulations and agent-based technologies. In this project, we seek to understand key research questions concerning the interplay of ethical trust at the individual level and the development of collective social moral norms as representative sample of the bigger micro-macro link of social systems. We outline our computational model of ethical trust (CMET) informed by research findings from trust, machine ethics and neural science. Guided by the CMET architecture, we discuss key implementation ideas for the simulations of ethical trust and social moral norms.

Interplay of ethical trust and social moral norms : environment modelling and computational mechanisms in agent-based social simulation

In many agent-based models theoretical and computational mechanisms are needed for model abstraction and design. However, it can be challenging to arrive at the appropriate mechanisms and models. This research on the interplay of ethical trust and social moral norms addresses that challenge via an analytical framework on the spread of moral norms, the modelling of social environment and the selection of spread mechanisms as applied to agent-based social simulation. We describe the mechanism alignment mapping, two forms of interaction modelling between the social environment and agents, and the results obtained from the simulation of our computational model. These results provide an insight into how the agent-based paradigm can be applied as a technique of investigation for normative moral processes in computational social sciences.

Research

All CAM courses include Legal, Ethical, and Professional Practice issues as an essential component of curriculum. Statutory bodies, professional associations, educational institutions and accreditation authorities require that such content be incorporated into CAM courses. Accreditation of such courses is (in part) predicated on including such content. There is currently no local text which deals comprehensively with these subjects for CAM students or practitioners. This is a text designed to meet the needs of CAM students at Diploma, Bachelor and coursework Masters levels. The authors are both academic and practitioners, and have written according to CAM curriculum requirements, adopting an interdisciplinary approach, with contributing authors for individual modalities. The authors have produced a template for the contributors and integrative practice considerations are included.

Genetic research in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities : continuing the conversation

Genetics is at the forefront of medical research, but it is rarely used in Indigenous health research projects. This discussion paper is the outcome of the first ever national discussion of the conduct of genetic research in Indigenous communities in Australia convened by the Lowitja Institute in 2010. It reviews the ethical issues relevant to genetic research in an Australian Indigenous context; existing guidelines for genetic research in indigenous communities internationally; and literature on genetic literacy in Indigenous contexts. Finally, the discussion paper presents a summary of the productive and challenging conversations at the round table.

Performing beginning teachers’ ‘firsts’: exploring a theatre-based research method

Theatre-based research methods have been employed in a variety of ways to transcend more traditional research methods, and bring research findings to a broader and relevant audience. Performing research to an 'expert' audience is transformative in nature. The audience share a collective understanding of the material presented, where their understandings can be challenged or confirmed. The ethical responsibilities of the theatre-based researcher are therefore paramount in presenting the research in a manner that respects the research participants, and allows the audience to make informed judgements.This paper outlines my experience in devising and performing 'The First Time' - a performance about twelve beginning teachers' firsts. The performance was constructed from their interview data and performed by teachers - most of who are drama teachers – in order to sensitively represent the real stories of the research participants. The research was framed within a practice theory approach (Schatzki 2001) with a focus on the transformation of practices situated within a particular time and place. The method of performing the research to an 'expert' audience of performing arts practitioners, teachers, and teacher educators created an opportunity for both the transformation of teaching practice and the transformation of theatre.The research findings focus on the importance of creativity and flexibility in an approach to both research and teaching. The outcomes of my research have implications for theatre-based researchers, as well as teacher educators, in-service teachers, and beginning teachers. All these practitioners are continually negotiating the waters of their ever-changing professions.

Our anonymous online research participants are not always anonymous: Is this a problem?

When educational research is conducted online, we sometimes promise our participants that they will be anonymous—but do we deliver on this promise? We have been warned since 1996 to be careful when using direct quotes in Internet research, as full-text web search engines make it easy to find chunks of text online. This paper details an empirical study into the prevalence of direct quotes from participants in a subset of the educational technology literature. Using basic web search techniques, the source of direct quotes could be found in 10 of 112 articles. Analysis of the articles revealed previously undiscussed threats from data triangulation and expert analysis/diagnosis. Issues of ethical obliviousness, obscurity and concern for future privacy-invasive technologies are also discussed. Recommendations for researchers, journals and institutional ethics review boards are made for how to better protect participants' anonymity against current and future threats.

Embedding self, others, culture and ethics in intercultural research

Abstract: This paper highlights the tensions evident in maintaining ethical principles while simultaneously responding to interpersonal and cultural demands in an intercultural research setting. The tensions reflect the intersections of relationships between ethical principles and practice, between a researcher and her research participants, and between people in the same or different cultural communities. The intricacies of cultures encompass unpredictable expectations for many aspects of research, as shown in the sociological perspectives, which are at the very centre of deliberations in this paper. It is argued that ethics, interpersonal relationships and cultural considerations are representative of the complexity of considerations that researchers negotiate throughout the conduct of an intercultural study. Therefore, it is important that the positioning of ethical practices is considered as central to the wider research process.

Considering the ways in which anti-oppressive practice principles can inform health research

All research that investigates therapeutic practice should be conducted with the aim to develop and support good procedures of inquiry. An anti-oppressive practice approach within health research provides a way to systematically examine research procedures and motivations to increase the potential that the resultant research will yield ethical and just results. In this paper two music therapy researchers consider how anti-oppressive practices can address real life problems and be applicable to real life situations; from questions of participation, to developing the research question, recruitment, consent, and further steps of the research process. The goal of this paper is to examine issues arising when considering anti-oppressive practices and healthcare research practices from the perspective of the authors’ experience of music therapy research.

Ethical transnational corporate activity at home and abroad: A proposal for reforming continuous disclosure obligations in Australia and the United States

Multinational Corporations establish operations in states with lower legal and ethical standards in areas including the environment, wages, labor standards, human rights, corruption, and company taxation. Corporate law scholars cannot be indifferent to the horrific consequences of these lax standards. From contributing to rapes and violent incidents stemming from trade in conflict minerals in the Congo to the killing of workers due to poor conditions in garment manufacturing units in Bangladesh, multinational corporations exploit conditions in developing countries abroad without disclosing their actions at home. We advance a normative argument to clarify and strengthen the existing model of disclosure-based regulation to hold MNCs accountable. We argue that, since the core expectations held by shareholders of companies are the same whether they are operating within our borders or externally, a harmonization of disclosure obligations imposed by law would be a more flexible and less costly solution. We posit that a broader reading of the disclosure obligations of companies under existing legislation like the Reg. S-K in the United States, the continuous disclosure rules under * Dean and Professor of Law, University of Newcastle Law School. Sandeep Gopalan would like to thank Terrie Troxel, Jack Tatom, Professor Bill Wilhelm, and the Networks Financial Institute at Indiana State University College of Business for their valuable support in conducting research for this article. We are also grateful to Audrey Son, Bassam Khawaja, and the editorial staff of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review for their excellent editorial work. ** Solicitor and doctoral candidate, University of Newcastle Law School. 2 COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW [46.2:1 the Australian Corporations Act 2001, and listing rules such as those adopted by the Australian Securities Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange would require the disclosure of material corporate practices outside our national borders.

Ethical issues and lessons in the voices of Pacific children project

Knowledge of the needs and experiences of children with disability living in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea (PNG) is limited and that which does exist, does not focus on data collected directly from children themselves. This project aims to establish a method of data collection to determine the self-reported needs and priorities of children living with disability in Vanuatu and PNG. The project involves a multi-staged capacity building approach between two Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs): PNG Assembly of Disabled Persons (PNGADP) and the Disability Promotion and Advocacy Association Vanuatu (DPA); and Save the Children and Deakin University. The research is funded by an Australian Development Research Award and is being undertaken between 2013 and 2015. The research will collect data from up to 50 children with disability aged between 5 and 18 years in each country.

I can see clearly now the moderating effects of role clarity on subordinate responses to ethical leadership

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – Although there is growing research on the relationship between ethical leadership and subordinate work behaviors, limited research has examined the boundary conditions under which ethical leadership is more or less effective. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether subordinate perceptions of role clarity in their job role influence the relationship between ethical leadership and subordinate work behaviors. Drawing on both social exchange and social learning theories, the authors predict that in contexts where subordinates perceive low levels of role clarity, the relationship between ethical leadership behavior and subordinate helping and deviant behaviors will be weaker. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 239 employees in the Chinese public sector completed surveys across three separate time points. Confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Findings – Analyses provided support for the hypothesized relationships. When subordinates perceived higher levels of role clarity the positive relationship between ethical leadership and helping behavior was stronger, and the negative relationship between ethical leadership and deviant behavior was stronger. Research limitations/implications – As with all research the findings of this study need to be viewed in light of its limitations. First, the use of data from a single set of respondents opens up the possibility of common method bias. Second, given the study used of a sample of public sector employees from one part of China, there would be value in future research examining whether the findings from the present study are generalizable to other industrial and cultural contexts. Practical implications – This research has a number of practical implications. Given that the authors found a significant positive relationship between ethical leadership and helping behavior, and a significant negative relationship between ethical leadership and deviant behavior, it is crucial for organizations to include ethical training as an essential part of leadership development programs. However, the findings also suggest at the same time as facilitating the development of ethical leadership behaviors amongst supervisory employees, it is important for organizations to also provide employees with clarity over what is expected of them in their jobs, and the means they should employ to facilitate goal achievement. Originality/value – This study responds to recent calls for more research to identify factors which may strengthen or mitigate the influence of ethical leadership in the workplace.