Implicit persuasion in pharmaceutical marketing: ethical implications for regulators and consumers. The rapid ageing of Australia's population has seen increasing consumption of pharmaceuticals and high rates of hospitalisation to treat adverse effects. Pharmaceutical advertising promotes medication use, yet increasing evidence suggests commercials can alter attitudes outside of awareness. Determining the extent and ethical acceptability of subconscious persuasion in drug marketing will lead to ....Implicit persuasion in pharmaceutical marketing: ethical implications for regulators and consumers. The rapid ageing of Australia's population has seen increasing consumption of pharmaceuticals and high rates of hospitalisation to treat adverse effects. Pharmaceutical advertising promotes medication use, yet increasing evidence suggests commercials can alter attitudes outside of awareness. Determining the extent and ethical acceptability of subconscious persuasion in drug marketing will lead to more appropriate regulation of advertising content and enhance the autonomy of consumer medication choice. The study outcomes will address Australia's priority research goals Ageing Well, Ageing Productively and Preventative Healthcare, and further this country's international reputation in Applied Ethics.Read moreRead less
Defining disease: Addressing the problem of overdiagnosis. This project will investigate and define the limits of physical disease, to answer questions about when a presentation is a disease, and when it is simply a risk factor or mild condition. The ensuing account of disease will make a practical contribution to growing international concern about asymptomatic people being diagnosed and treated for conditions that will not cause any health problems ("overdiagnosis"). The research will provide ....Defining disease: Addressing the problem of overdiagnosis. This project will investigate and define the limits of physical disease, to answer questions about when a presentation is a disease, and when it is simply a risk factor or mild condition. The ensuing account of disease will make a practical contribution to growing international concern about asymptomatic people being diagnosed and treated for conditions that will not cause any health problems ("overdiagnosis"). The research will provide normative grounds for evaluating disease claims. Results will reduce the harm caused by people receiving treatment that they do not require, make a practical contribution to debates about the scope of health care, and yield findings that can help to reduce the cost-burdens associated with overdiagnosis.Read moreRead less
The ethics of altering children. Parents sometimes request surgery or drug therapy to change a child's physical appearance. This project will provide ethical guidance to doctors and policy makers about ethically appropriate ways to respond to such requests.
Caring for Asylum Seekers in Australia: Bioethics and Human Rights. Australia's policy of mandatory detention has been criticised at home and abroad. This research will bring together both empirical and reflective material about that policy by those who have seen its effects first hand, which will make an important contribution to national self-definition. The research process itself will bring together practitioners who have worked in the field, many of whom have expressed the need for recordin ....Caring for Asylum Seekers in Australia: Bioethics and Human Rights. Australia's policy of mandatory detention has been criticised at home and abroad. This research will bring together both empirical and reflective material about that policy by those who have seen its effects first hand, which will make an important contribution to national self-definition. The research process itself will bring together practitioners who have worked in the field, many of whom have expressed the need for recording their experiences, and guidelines as to how to practice in the future when human rights issues form a part of clinical practice. As such, the project will contribute to other areas of healthcare where such issues are present, such as indigenous health, mental health, and the care of other vulnerable populations. Read moreRead less
Consent in the void: moral, legal and community values in decisions about human biological donations. This project will improve consent procedures for embryo and organ donation. This will increase the autonomy of those consenting, the quality of consent that is given, and increase public trust in the processes of embryo and organ donation. The legal and moral status of the wishes of the newly dead or embryo donors and will be clarified thereby increasing the quality of consent processes for all ....Consent in the void: moral, legal and community values in decisions about human biological donations. This project will improve consent procedures for embryo and organ donation. This will increase the autonomy of those consenting, the quality of consent that is given, and increase public trust in the processes of embryo and organ donation. The legal and moral status of the wishes of the newly dead or embryo donors and will be clarified thereby increasing the quality of consent processes for all involved. By including community values in addition to the legal and moral issues, this project will make well-founded recommendations for the development of laws, policies and guidelines in relation to decisions about frozen embryos and the newly dead.Read moreRead less
How do we know what works: ethics and evidence in surgical research. This project will make surgery safer for patients by improving our understanding of evidence in surgery. We will look at the question "what works" in surgery. The resources we develop will help practitioners and regulators to better navigate and manage the complex ethical and practical challenges in this field.
Neuroethics: The Practical and the Philosophical. The benefits of the project are twofold: practically, it will enable us to better regulate, personally and socially, the new technologies that the sciences of the mind are already producing; intellectually, it will enable us to better understand human agency in the light of the new knowledge generated by the sciences of the mind, and it will help to maintain Australia's reputation as an international leader in applied ethics and in philosophy of ....Neuroethics: The Practical and the Philosophical. The benefits of the project are twofold: practically, it will enable us to better regulate, personally and socially, the new technologies that the sciences of the mind are already producing; intellectually, it will enable us to better understand human agency in the light of the new knowledge generated by the sciences of the mind, and it will help to maintain Australia's reputation as an international leader in applied ethics and in philosophy of mind and agency.Read moreRead less
Trust me - I'm a researcher: The role of trust in the human research enterprise. We assume a relationship of trust between researchers and their participants. But what does this mean for researchers and participants, and for the ethics committees who make judgements about the ethics of the research? This project will benefit prospective research participants by providing them with information about how to determine the trustworthiness of researchers and what is expected in a trusting research re ....Trust me - I'm a researcher: The role of trust in the human research enterprise. We assume a relationship of trust between researchers and their participants. But what does this mean for researchers and participants, and for the ethics committees who make judgements about the ethics of the research? This project will benefit prospective research participants by providing them with information about how to determine the trustworthiness of researchers and what is expected in a trusting research relationship. It will also benefit researchers in understanding how to strengthen trust in research relationships and articulating how ethics committees can make well-founded judgements about the trustworthiness of researchers. The findings will also contribute to training programs for both ethics committees and researchers. Read moreRead less
Growing up with Cancer: A mixed method examination of how cancer influences the transition from adolescence to adulthood. In the last decade, over 10,000 of Australia's adolescents and young adults were diagnosed with cancer. Over the last 30 years, improvements in survival for 15 - 30 year olds have been the lowest of all age groups.Despite this, few health care facilities have the specialised infrastructure needed for dedicated psychosocial support of adolescents.
In finding out from adolescen ....Growing up with Cancer: A mixed method examination of how cancer influences the transition from adolescence to adulthood. In the last decade, over 10,000 of Australia's adolescents and young adults were diagnosed with cancer. Over the last 30 years, improvements in survival for 15 - 30 year olds have been the lowest of all age groups.Despite this, few health care facilities have the specialised infrastructure needed for dedicated psychosocial support of adolescents.
In finding out from adolescents with cancer what is most important in their care, we aim to identify and develop a range of services dedicated not only to addressing some of their needs, but also to building upon aspects of the cancer experience thought by adolescents as having a positive impact on their lives.Read moreRead less
Telling the truth to seriously ill children. This project aims to investigate how doctors and parents give information to young children who have serious medical conditions. Ethical and clinical guidelines agree that even young children should be given open, accurate and honest information in a developmentally appropriate way. However, doctors find this a challenging and uncertain area, and children do not receive open communication. This project aims to understand factors influencing the doctor ....Telling the truth to seriously ill children. This project aims to investigate how doctors and parents give information to young children who have serious medical conditions. Ethical and clinical guidelines agree that even young children should be given open, accurate and honest information in a developmentally appropriate way. However, doctors find this a challenging and uncertain area, and children do not receive open communication. This project aims to understand factors influencing the doctors and parents‘ real-life decisions of what and when to tell a child; undertake a practical ethical analysis; and produce practical guidelines and educational resources for parents and doctors. This project intends to improve the experience for young children being treated for serious medical conditions and their families.Read moreRead less