Ethical dilemmas created by the criminalization of status behaviors: Case examples from ethnographic field research with injection drug users

David Buchanan, Kaveh Khoshnood, Tom Stopka, Susan Shaw, Claudia Santelices, Merrill Singer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

The criminalization of behaviors such as the ingestion of certain mood-altering drugs creates ethical dilemmas for researchers studying those behaviors. The Syringe Access, Use, and Discard (SAUD) project is designed to uncover microcontextual factors that influence HIV and hepatitis risk behaviors of injection drug users. The article presents seven ethical dilemmas encountered using ethnographic methods: issues involving syringe replacement at injection locales, risks of participants' arrest, potential disruptions in participants' supply routes, risks of research staff arrest, threats to the protection of confidentiality, issues surrounding informed consent in working with addicts, and the confiscation of potentially incriminating information by police. The article concludes with a discussion of the limitations of traditional ethical frameworks, such as utilitarianism, for resolving these dilemmas and recommends instead improving public health professionals' capacity for practical reasoning (phronesis) through the greater use of case studies in public health curricula.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)30-42
Number of pages13
JournalHealth Education and Behavior
Volume29
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2002
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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