Ethical issues concerning participants in community surveys of child and adolescent mental disorders

Objective: Considering that a literature review yielded limited information on ethical issues concerning participants in child and adolescent mental health community surveys, the authors identify and discuss some of these issues. Method: First, the authors present the ethical principles set forth by the National Council on Bioethics in Human Research (NCBHR) and evoked by the 1998 Tri-Council Policy Statement, underscoring their importance as guidelines for establishing ethical standards for research with children. Second, they describe the general objectives and currently preferred methods of child psychiatric surveys. Third, they discuss issues pertaining to the validity, and innocuousness of structured interview guides, the limitations of parental authorization and children's assent, and the complexity of clinical interventions based on ethical grounds. Conclusions: The authors emphasize the importance of developing empirical knowledge regarding the questions raised and bringing the social stakeholders concerned into the debate.