ENHANCING INFORMED CONSENT IN LATE-LIFE PSYCHOSIS

描述（由申请人提供）：这个为期五年的培训奖的目标是进一步劳拉·邓恩博士作为老年精神病学研究人员的发展，重点是精神病学研究伦理，特别是改善精神分裂症或相关疾病老年人研究的知情同意的实证研究。职业发展计划将建立在邓恩博士在精神病学和老年精神病学的临床背景，以及她在精神病学研究伦理学的研究背景。2001年6月，邓恩博士完成了她在圣地亚哥加州大学的精神病学住院医师实习。她目前是加州大学圣地亚哥分校老年精神病学的临床研究员。她撰写或合著了14篇已出版或出版的文章，并在国家会议上发表了6篇摘要。职业发展计划的首要目标是使邓恩博士成为老年精神病学和精神病学研究伦理的独立调查员。具体培训目标如下：1）获得坚实的生物医学伦理知识基础，强调老年精神病学研究和干预研究中的伦理问题; 2）实验设计、量表开发和定量与定性数据分析方法的课程和咨询; 3）了解干预试验的设计、实施、分析和报告中出现的程序、哲学和伦理问题（精神药理学和心理社会学）; 4）对增强研究参与者与知情同意相关的决策能力的方法进行实证研究; 5）根据拟议研究提出的结果和问题，制定进一步的干预措施，以增强研究和治疗的知情同意和决策过程;以及6）向精神病学和其他生物医学领域的研究人员传播研究成果。该计划包括结构化的课程，并与生物伦理学，老年精神病学，精神分裂症研究，精神病学研究伦理学和干预研究领域的专家进行咨询。Dunn博士的第一手研究培训将涉及实施一项随机试验，研究增强同意程序对中年和老年（>/= 50岁）精神分裂症或情感障碍患者决策能力的影响。决策能力与精神病理学和认知功能的关系将被检查，参与者对研究的态度和经验的定性信息将被探索。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this five-year training award is to further Dr. Laura Dunn's development as a geriatric psychiatry researcher, with a focus on psychiatric research ethics, specifically the empirical study of improving informed consent for research in older persons with schizophrenia or related disorders. The career development plan will build on Dr. Dunn's clinical background in psychiatry and geriatric psychiatry, and on her research background in psychiatric research ethics. In June 2001, Dr. Dunn completed her psychiatric residency at University of California, San Diego. She is currently a clinical fellow in Geriatric Psychiatry at UCSD. She has authored or co-authored a total of 14 articles that are published or in press, and she has presented six abstracts at national meetings. The overriding goal of the career development plan is to enable Dr. Dunn to become an independent investigator in geriatric psychiatry and psychiatric research ethics. The specific training targets are as follows: 1) attainment of a solid knowledge base in biomedical ethics, emphasizing ethical issues in geriatric psychiatry research and intervention studies; 2) coursework and consultation in experimental design, scale development, and quantitative and qualitative data analytic methods; 3) understanding of procedural, philosophical, and ethical issues arising in the design, implementation, analysis, and reporting of intervention trials (both psychopharmacologic and psychosocial); 4) empirical study of methods to enhance research participants' decisional abilities relevant for informed consent; 5) development, based on results and questions raised by the proposed study, of further interventions designed to enhance informed consent and decision-making processes for both research and treatment; and 6) dissemination of research findings to investigators in psychiatry and other biomedical fields. The plan includes structured coursework and consultation with experts in the fields of bioethics, geriatric psychiatry, schizophrenia research, psychiatric research ethics, and intervention studies. Dr. Dunn's firsthand research training will involve the implementation of a randomized trial of the effects of an enhanced consent procedure on decision-making capacity for research in middle-aged and older (>/= 50 years old) patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. The relationship of decisional abilities to psychopathology and cognitive functioning will be examined, and qualitative information about participants' attitudes toward and experience with research will be explored.