Johns Hopkins University

Ethical Challenges in Lead Poisoning Prevention Research

Nancy E. Kass, Sc.D.
nkass@jhsph.edu

Project Description

Recent media attention on ethical, social, legal issues of CLP prevention research highlights the need for continuous and effective dialogue between communities and environmental health (EH) researchers about the aims, design, challenges, progress, and findings of research and ways to address these issues in the conduct and translation of research. The proposed project focuses on community involvement, capacity building, education, and empowerment in the context of CLP research conducted by the Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI) and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHBSPH). Specific aims are: 1) To build on existing infrastructure for sustained dialogue between EH researchers and community by creating a Community Board, building community capacity for research, and increasing researchers 'awareness of community values, priorities, knowledge; 2) to conduct with community involvement in-depth interviews, focus groups and surveys, assessing, community knowledge/attitudes/perceptions about EH research and CLP research in particular, EH researchers' knowledge/attitudes/perceptions about the community; and 3) to create educational materials with community related to EH research and CLP studies, including educational materials/programs for community related to four CLP studies; (b) developing educational materials/programs for researchers to address gaps in their knowledge and understanding of community, its needs, concerns, culture, and points of view about research; and (c) evaluating the process of developing and implementing the educational materials and their community impact. The project, targeted to the E. Baltimore Empowerment Zone, engages residents, community organizations, and individuals with expertise in bioethics, health education, community mediation, and the application of social marketing techniques to the development of innovative educational materials, to improve health and environmental justice. The investigators hypothesize that our approach can produce models for education of diverse communities and EH scientists.