[Air-l] ethics committee deliberations

[Ben Davidson]

Hi all,

I'm hoping some of you with experience of ethics committee deliberations and
ethical issues relating to professional services online might be able to
help me here.

I am leading a research project into online clinical supervision for a
variety of health professionals - nurses, psychotherapists, counsellors and
probation officers among others.  In the procedures whereby would-be online
supervisors register their professional details (many but not all of which
appear on a public profile, available to prospective supervisees), the
html/asp form we have put together currently asks for details such as their
Registration Number, Name of Registration Body and Full Address of
Registration Body.

Myself and other members of the research team, in preparing a proposal for
ethics committee approval, are anxious that simply asking registrants to
provide such details might not be felt sufficient, and that we may need to
vet applicants more thoroughly - eg rather than simply ensuring the
information has been submitted, we may need to contact the registration body
to check would-be supervisors are registered, and may also need to have
physical sight of some documentary evidence (eg a recent utility bill or
credit card statement) to authenticate that the registrant is the person
whose details have been submitted.

Of course, this is not just about ethics committee approval, but clinical
governance - the ethics committee proposal submission has simply crystalised
our own anxieties about ensuring that those providing online supervision
associated with our research are bone fide.

Any advice or experience you are willing to share regarding appropriate
rigour in vetting procedures for the provision of professional services
online would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Ben