Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

The ethics of research with men who have learning disabilities and abusive sexual behaviour: a minefield in a vacuum

Brown, Hilary, Thompson, David (1997) The ethics of research with men who have learning disabilities and abusive sexual behaviour: a minefield in a vacuum. Disability & Society, 12 (5). pp. 695-707. ISSN 0968-7599. (doi:10.1080/09687599726994) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:18311)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09687599726994

Abstract

In the wake of the recent awareness of the sexual abuse of people with learning disabilities is the recognition that a small number of men with learning disabilities are themselves sexually abusing. The need to understand the men's behaviour and provide effective responses is pressing yet the search for an ethical course of enquiry appears illusory. The two conflicting dilemmas which make this task so difficult are whether the men's learning disabilities preclude their giving informed consent to the research process, and/or whether men who are sexually abusing have lost some rights to exclude themselves from research which is intended to prevent further abuse. This paper explores in depth these dilemmas and describes the authors' attempts to resolve them as they attempted to devise a protocol for consent to involvement in a qualitative study of men with learning disabilities who sexually abuse. Issues raised in this particular context have relevance to many other issues in learning disability services where robust ethical debate is needed, but often glossed over.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1080/09687599726994
Depositing User: T. Nasir
Date Deposited: 28 Oct 2009 18:07 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 09:56 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/18311 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.