Aim: This article presents key ethical challenges that were encountered when conducting a participatory qualitative research project with a very specific, small group of nurses, in this case with practice development nurses in Malta.
Background: With the small number of nurses employed in practice development roles in Malta, there are numerous difficulties of maintaining confidentiality. Poorly constructed interventions by the researcher could have resulted in detrimental effects to research participants and the overall trustworthiness of the research. Generally, ethical guidelines for research exist to reinforce validity of research; however, there is not an established consensus on how these strategies can be utilised in some types of qualitative field work.
Research Design: The researcher used an exploratory case study methodology. The sample consisted of 10 participants who were interviewed twice using face-to-face interviews, over a period of 2 months.
Ethical Considerations: The study was ethically reviewed by the University Research Ethics Committee and the Faculty Research Ethics Committee, University of Malta. The participants referred to in this article have been given adequate information about the study and their consent has been obtained.
Discussion: Numerous strategies for ensuring confidentiality during recruitment of the participants, during data collection, during transcription and data analysis and during dissemination of research results assisted the researcher in responding to potential and actual ethical issues.
Conclusion: This article emphasises the main strategies that can be used to respond to ethical challenges when researching with a small easily identifiable group. The learning discussed here may be relevant to or even transferable to other similar research studies or research contexts. These methods fostered a greater credibility throughout the research process and predisposed the participants to greater trust, and thus, they disclosed their experiences and speak more freely, thus enhancing the quality of the study.
Palm kernel meal (PKM) presents a challenge for non-ruminant livestock feeding due to its high fibre content predominantly in the form of mannan. Microbial fermentation offers a sustainable solution for fibre hydrolysis in lignocellulosic biomass. In this study, a Bacillus subtilis strain (F6), with high mannanase secretion capability, was isolated from the environment.
Department of Psychiatry, Center for Health Outcomes and Interdisciplinary Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, 1 Bowdoin Square, Suite 106, Boston, MA, 02114, USA.
Chronic orofacial pain (COFP; i.e., musculoskeletal, neurovascular, or neuropathic pain in the face, mouth, or jaw that lasts for at least 3 months) is prevalent and debilitating.
Real-world data are a highly valuable resource in determining the efficacy of novel products in challenging populations, especially in wound care. This study retrospectively analyzed the real-world performance of porcine placental extracellular matrix (PPECM; InnovaMatrix® AC, Convatec Triad Life Sciences, LLC, Memphis, TN, USA), a novel cellular, acellular, and matrix-like product for the management of hard-to-heal wounds. The US Wound Registry (USWR), which comprises aggregated and structured electronic health records from 502 wound practices, provided a deidentified dataset collected from October 10, 2022 to March 25, 2024, containing 76,278 patients (248,278 wounds).
Objective: Resistance to antiseizure medications (ASMs) is a major challenge in the treatment of patients with epilepsy. Despite numerous newly marketed ASMs, the proportion of drug-resistant people with epilepsy has not significantly decreased over the years. Therefore, novel and innovative seizure models for preclinical drug screening are highly desirable.
Background: Pest infestation poses a major challenge in the field of global plant protection, seriously threatening crop safety. To enhance crop protection and optimize control strategies, this study is dedicated to the precise identification of various pests that harm crops, thereby ensuring the efficient use of agricultural pesticides and achieving optimal plant protection.
Results: Currently, pest identification technologies lack accuracy, especially in recognizing pests across different growth stages.
