Institutional Review Boards: Challenges for Suicide Bereavement Research

At the conclusion of this presentation participants will be able to explore IRB objections to suicide bereavement research and better understand how IRB restrictions may influence research that is being conducted and not being conducted. While high quality and ethically sound research is needed to better understand and respond to the needs of those bereaved by suicide; there is a growing concern that Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) in the United States, and similar organizations internationally, raise objections to this kind of research based on faulty assumptions and lack of information. Ethical review boards play an important role in ensuring that proposed research meets criteria to ensure participants are protected from harm when volunteering for the research. Yet, such boards also appear to reflect unsupported judgments and prejudices that the broader community holds. Researchers must always consider the risk benefit ration for their participant-subjects and the purpose of this panel will be to explore these important issues, including the perspectives of both American and international suicide bereavement researchers.