Ethical and legal issues in Public Health Campaigns Essay

The author explained the potential ethical and legal issues that can be encountered during a research study involving humans. The ethical issue identified by the author is the validity of the provided information. The author briefly explained that internal validity and external validity need to be maintained in any research study. The ethical importance of validity has also been explored in past studies. Even though the author tried to justify that internal validity and external validity are some of the ethical issues to be considered before undertaking a public health campaign, he or she did not provide substantial justification for the same. It is important to note that validity issues are not related to research ethics. According to Bonita, Beaglehole, Kjellstrom, and World Health Organization (2006), validity refers to the degree a test measures what it is intended to measure. A study can only be said to have validity if its findings correspond with the truth. That is, validity can only be guaranteed in a study if there are no systematic errors and random errors (Ettinger, Feldman, & Cote, 2017).

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Four types of validity have been identified: statistical validity, measurement validity, external validity, and internal validity (Langbein, 2016). Statistical validity refers to the accuracy to which random effects can be distinguished from systematic effects while measurement validity can be defined as the extent to which concepts and variables can be accurately measured in a study (Langbein, 2016). On the other hand, external validity refers to the generalizability of study findings (Schutt, 2014) while internal validity refers to how accurate the causal claims are (Salkind, 2010). As it can be seen from the definitions above of different types of validity, it can be concluded that there is no relationship between validity and research ethics. Instead of discussing validity, the ethical issues the author should have tackled include scientific integrity, respect for human rights, confidentiality, and informed consent (Bonita et al., 2006).

The author also identified misuse of funds as a legal issue in the implementation of a public health campaign. I agree that misappropriation of funds is an important legal issue because wastage of financial resources undermines healthcare delivery. The misuse of funds, as a legal issue, has also been supported by other authors and researchers. For instance, according to Community Tool Box (2018), legal trouble can arise if there is misuse or misappropriation of money.

Use of CBPR in Developing Public Health Campaign

The author correctly explained how CBPR could be used to develop public health campaign. According to the author, CBPR is vital in such campaigns because it provides appropriate data to the community. This data is derived from knowledge obtained from partnering with community members. In agreement with the author of this article, Johnson-Shelton, Moreno-Black, Evers, and Zwink (2015) explained that CBPR links the community with healthcare professionals and researchers responsible for combatting public health problems.

References

Bonita, R., Beaglehole, R., Kjellstrom, T., & Organization, W. H. (2006). Basic epidemiology. World Health Organization.

Community Tool Box (2018). Section 5. Ethical issues in community interventions. Retrieved from https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/analyze/choose-and-adapt-community-interventions/ethical-issues/main

Ettinger, S. J., Feldman, E. C., & Cote, E. (2017). Textbook of veterinary internal medicine - eBook. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Johnson-Shelton, D., Moreno-Black, G., Evers, C., & Zwink, N. (2015). A Community-Based Participatory Research Approach for Preventing Childhood Obesity: The Communities and Schools Together Project. Progress in Community Health Partnerships : Research, Education, and Action, 9(3), 351-361. http://doi.org/10.1353/cpr.2015.0056

Langbein, L. (2016). Public program evaluation: A statistical guide. Routledge.

Salkind, N. J. (2010). Encyclopedia of research design. SAGE Publications.

Schutt, R. K. (2014). Investigating the social world: The process and practice of research. SAGE Publications.