ABSTRACT

Although ethical and methodological challenges of conducting research with vulnerable populations are widely acknowledged, there are fewer discussions on the unique difficulties encountered by researchers while working with prisoners sentenced to death and their families. This paper presents the reflective accounts of two researchers’ fieldwork experience, highlighting the ethical concerns and methodological challenges encountered while conducting an interdisciplinary research project on the mental health of prisoners sentenced to death and their families in India. Specifically, we discuss challenges faced during sampling of participants (prisoners and families), obtaining informed consent, confidentiality and right to anonymity, role confusion and conflict of interest, potential risks and benefits to research participants, and personal biases of researchers. We also provide suggestions for future researchers who wish to conduct research in this area and for policy makers to work toward minimizing the stigmatization and oppression faced by this community. Implications for research, clinical work, education, and training of mental health professionals are discussed.

摘要

尽管对弱势群体进行研究的伦理和方法挑战得到广泛承认，但关于研究人员在与被判死刑的囚犯及其家人合作时遇到的独特困难的讨论较少。本文介绍了两位研究人员实地工作经验的反思性叙述，强调了在进行一项关于印度被判死刑囚犯及其家人心理健康的跨学科研究项目时遇到的伦理问题和方法论挑战。具体而言，我们讨论了参与者（囚犯和家属）抽样过程中面临的挑战、获得知情同意、保密和匿名权、角色混淆和利益冲突、研究参与者的潜在风险和利益，以及研究人员的个人偏见。我们还为希望在该领域开展研究的未来研究人员和政策制定者提供建议，以尽量减少该社区面临的污名和压迫。讨论了对精神卫生专业人员的研究、临床工作、教育和培训的影响。