Should Children Be Allowed To Obtain Informed Consent Essay

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Kuther (2017) defined informed consent as a clients’ “informed, rational and voluntary agreement to participate. Informed consent is important because it shows that clients are aware of what is happening and that clients are at services on their own accord. Without obtaining informed consent, clinical psychologists cannot treat clients or perform research on participants. While clinical psychologists need informed consent to treat and perform research on clients, they do not necessarily need informed consent from the person whom they are treating. Informed consent must obtain from the parents of minors because minors do not have fully developed brain and cognitive abilities (Kuther, 2017). Kalat (2016) states that adolescents do not have a …show more content…

For example, a minor could not want to participate in research but decide to participate because his father threatens to take away his television. Because of children do not possess a level of decision-making as high as adult’s, I will obtain informed consent from minors in a careful way. Although minors are not legally allowed to give informed consent, they are not out of the decision-making process for participating in research. Kuther (2017) states, “although children cannot provide informed consent… [they can give] assent, children’s agreement to participate.” Thus, I would want to make sure minors agree to participate in research for uncoerced reasons. As Stricket et al. (2003) states, “informed consent is based in part on a belief in individuals’ rights to autonomous and self-determination.” In my opinion, minors do not act autonomously or intrinsically motivated if they are swayed by punishments. Thus, I would sit minors down one-one and fully explain to them the research process and asks them their reasons for seeing me. If they want to participate in research because they just want to, then I will gladly let them participate; however, if they want to participate to avoid a punishment, I will kindly tell their parents that I will not have any participants that only participate to avoid

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