Title
Office of Human Research Ethics SOP 1701: Participant Outreach
1. Purpose
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) is committed to ensuring that educational opportunities are offered to research participants, prospective research participants, and community members which will enhance their understanding of research involving human participants at UNC-Chapel Hill and provide them the opportunity to provide input and express concerns.
The following procedures describe how UNC-Chapel Hill fulfills that responsibility.
2. Procedure
2.1 Responsibility
It is the responsibility of the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC TraCS) Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill to implement the procedures outlined below.
2.2 Outreach Resources and Educational Materials
- The Office of Human Research Ethics (OHRE) dedicates a section of their website to research participants entitled “For Research Participants.” This website includes resources, such as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and a listing of relevant research-related links.
- The OHRE site includes a “Contact Us” link that allows members of the community to ask questions, express concerns, or provide feedback. Provision of contact information by the person is optional.
- UNC-Chapel Hill periodically provides presentations related to research to community organizations.
- UNC-Chapel Hill holds an annual “Research Day” to which members of the public are invited.
2.3 Evaluation
On an annual basis, the UNC-Chapel Hill Human Research Protection Program evaluates its outreach activities and makes changes when appropriate. In order to formally evaluate its outreach activities, the following may be reviewed:
- The specific community outreach activities being used.
- Whether or not these community outreach activities have an evaluative component (e.g., evaluation instrument distributed to participants), and if so whether the feedback was positive, negative, or neutral and if any suggestions were made that could be used to enhance future activities.
- The number of times the “For Research Participants” site is visited.
- Feedback provided via the “Contact Us” mechanism on the “Research for Me” site.
- Feedback provided from other sources (unaffiliated IRB members, investigators, research staff, students, etc.).
The results of the review will be used to establish both the adequacy of current outreach activities and any additional resources that may be needed to meet the needs of the research community regarding participant outreach.
Contact Information
Policy Contact
Name: Kimberly Brownley
Title: Associate Director of Policy and Initiative
Unit: Office of Human Research Ethics (OHRE)
Email: kim_brownley@med.unc.edu