Views of dental professionals and dental patients in Jos, Nigeria concerning the need for informed consent prior participation in dental clinical research

Abstract

Background: Informed Consent is a fundamental prerequisite to undertaking ethical research. There are series of complexities associated with the administration of Informed Consent form in developing countries. This study aimed to identify the views of dental patients and dental professionals in Jos, Nigeria toward the need for Informed Consent prior participation in dental clinical research. Materials and Methods: A self-administered questionnaire based cross sectional study. It sought to know participants' views about Informed Consent process and prior involvement in clinical research. Non-probability, purposive sampling technique was used to select the study population. Analysis was done by the use of SPSS 17. Results: A total of 152 participants answered the survey questionnaires; 121 patients and 31 Dental professionals. Age range was 18-70 years, M: 51%, F: 49%. 27 (17.8%) participants had been involved in clinical research before. Comparatively, dental patients have more understanding of the term ''Informed Consent'' (P > 0.05). Both patients (93.5%) and dental professionals (89.3%) agree strongly that Informed Consent is important to clinical research though ironically, nearly half (48.7%) of the participants do not have any idea of what Informed Consent entails. Also, 84.2% of the respondents think they should be asked of their consent before conducting a clinical research wherein they are the subjects. Conclusions: Though both the dental patients and professionals agree that Informed Consent is important to clinical research and that they should be asked of their consent before participation in clinical research, ignorance of what it actually entails is apparent among these groups.