Using a game for undergraduate global health students in the United States to practice applying ethical research principles

Abstract

Global health programmes have become quite popular within universities in the United States. But despite the growth in undergraduate programming in global health, the training of American undergraduates to ensure they engage ethically when conducting research in a low- or middle-income country has not followed. I teach a course in global bioethics and developed the board game described in this article as a means of engaging students in active, peer-to-peer learning about ethical challenges, questions and concerns during the research planning process, while students are working abroad in unfamiliar contexts or upon return to their home university once their data collection is completed. The game is intended for students to apply what they learned regarding global bioethical practice.