Consideration of diversity in German medical ethics commission’s application documents. A qualitative content analysis and recommendations

Abstract

The role of medical ethics committees is to review whether research projects – particularly those involving participants from vulnerable groups – are reasonable and ethically justifiable. Diversity characteristics may be associated with different living conditions and disadvantages that need to be considered in ethical review. The question is whether, and if so which, diversity characteristics are reviewed in this process. Using a qualitative content analysis based on Mayring’s methodology, the consideration of diversity in the application documents submitted to medical ethics committees in Germany was investigated. Diversity domains were addressed sporadically and, in most cases, in a minority of the application documents. Consequently, the integration of diversity is not systematically reviewed in the application procedures of German medical ethics committees. To promote diversity-sensitive research, a template for implementing diversity-sensitive health research is presented for use in ethics application documents and by researchers.