Facilitation of ethics committees

How can committees tasked with resolving ethical issues be guided in such a way that they achieve workable, high-quality outcomes? In her research, which is funded by the Foundation, Dr Imke Heitkamp is developing a facilitation method for ethics committees designed to improve and expedite their work.

By their very nature, ethical problems cannot be judged as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, as such issues depend on the perspective taken and the underlying values. At the same time, ethical negotiation processes are highly prone to disruption because those involved pursue their own interests, are often under considerable pressure to succeed and reach consensus, and do not have access to all relevant information.

Using the example of a specific relocation of production from Germany abroad and the general question of the moral assessment of such relocations, Dr Imke Heitkamp has examined the work of ethics committees and developed and tested quality criteria for evaluating their work. Building on this, a facilitation method for ethics committees was developed by applying insights from social-psychological group research; this method appears suitable for improving the quality and effectiveness of ethics committees.

References: Heitkamp, I., Borchardt, H. & Witte, E. H. (2005). On the simulated justification of economic and medical decisions in ethics committees: An empirical analysis of the influence of different roles. Hamburg Research Reports from the Department of Social Psychology (HaFoS 55). University of Hamburg.