The Values and Ethics: Guidance for Ethical Conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research was designed to provide guidance to researchers, HRECs and Aboriginal specific HRECs or subcommittees on the conception, design and conduct of research. It has the same status as the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. Both documents are to be used together.
Overview
Values and Ethics: Guidelines for Ethical Conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research (2003) contains guidelines for ethical health research involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
These guidelines were developed by an AHEC Working Party in 2003 and replace the NHMRC Guidelines on Ethical Matters in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research (1991).
An implementation strategy has been developed to assist researchers, Human Research Ethics Committee (HRECs), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and other stakeholders in the practical application of these guidelines. This strategy has two components:
- Firstly, the NHMRC provided a national training program about the document's application to members of HRECs, researchers and others in regional and metropolitan Australia throughout 2004.
- Secondly, a guide to the ethics of health research has been developed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to use when they are considering conducting, or being involved with, health research.
- Keeping research on track: a guide for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples about health research ethics