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The Social Value Misconception in Clinical Research.

Clinical researchers should help respect the autonomy and promote the well-being of prospective study participants by helping them make voluntary, informed decisions about enrollment. However, participants often exhibit poor understanding of important information about clinical research. Bioethicist...

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Published in:American Journal of Bioethics Vol. 25; no. 8; pp. 61 - 78
Main Authors: Earl, Jake, Dawson, Liza, Rid, Annette
Format: Journal Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Aug2025
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      jtl: American Journal of Bioethics
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      dt: Aug2025
      vid: 25
      iid: 8
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      pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd
      place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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        187023239
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        10.1080/15265161.2024.2371119
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        atl: The Social Value Misconception in Clinical Research.
      aug:
        au:
          Earl, Jake
          Dawson, Liza
          Rid, Annette
        affil: Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
      sug:
        subj:
          Social Values Ethical Issues
          Research Ethics
          Clinical Research
          Research Subjects
          Relational Autonomy
          Psychological Well-Being
          Bioethics
          Decision Making
          Altruism
      ab: Clinical researchers should help respect the autonomy and promote the well-being of prospective study participants by helping them make voluntary, informed decisions about enrollment. However, participants often exhibit poor understanding of important information about clinical research. Bioethicists have given special attention to "misconceptions" about clinical research that can compromise participants' decision-making, most notably the "therapeutic misconception." These misconceptions typically involve false beliefs about a study's purpose, or risks or potential benefits for participants. In this article, we describe a misconception involving false beliefs about a study's potential benefits for non-participants, or its expected social value. This social value misconception can compromise altruistically motivated participants' decision-making, potentially threatening their autonomy and well-being. We show how the social value misconception raises ethical concerns for inherently low-value research, hyped research, and even ordinary research, and advocate for empirical and normative work to help understand and counteract this misconception's potential negative impacts on participants.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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