The Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects, or “Common Rule”, provides the basis for Institutional Review Boards, such as the one at Fordham University, to evaluate research involving infants, children, and adolescents. It was last revised in 1991 in a time when most research was conducted in universities, colleges, and medical institutions and took place at a single site.
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| Dr. Celia B. Fisher, Ph.D. |
Dr. Celia Fisher has recently served as the chairperson of a task force convened by the Society for Research and Child Development (SRCD) charged with the creation of a report that ensures that any proposed changes to the “Common Rules” serve the interests of and do not present barriers to the responsible conduct of socio-behavioral research. The resulting report, “Preserving and Enhancing the Responsible Conduct of Research Involving Children and Youth - A Response to Proposed Changes in Federal Regulations” provides recommendations to policy makers for ensuring the responsible conduct of child and adolescent research in whatever final regulatory changes are enacted.
In this report, Dr. Fisher and her colleagues note that the regulations as currently specified in the “Common Rule” were originally created with biomedical research in mind and that the application of these policies to social and behavioral research has created barriers to conducting research with children and youth.
The complete report can be obtained from the SRCD web site.
Resources
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects ('Common Rule')
Social Policy Report - “Preserving and Enhancing the Responsible Conduct of Research Involving Children and Youth: A Response to Proposed Changes in Federal Regulations” (PDF)
News Release - HHS announces proposal to improve rules protecting human research subjects
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