Ethical Considerations in Global Mental Health Research: Lessons Learned From Binational US-Mexico Collaborations

Binational research is critical to better understand the health, mental health, and health outcomes of immigrant communities. Binational studies are often difficult to conduct, however, due to cost, challenges with participant recruitment and data collection, lack of appropriate cross-cultural instruments, and challenges ensuring ethical reviews and approval in both counties. This research note discusses ethical issues navigating institutional review board (IRB) procedures while striving to maintain the highest ethical protection for participants when engaging in binational behavioral sciences research between Mexico and the United States. We discuss the need to clarify requirements for international research between Mexico and the United States and navigating differences that may exist or emerge between IRBs in Mexico and the United States. We provide some recommendations to assist researchers in ensuring IRB approval for their research protocols and ethical protection for their participants.