Tipo de medidas adoptadas

3.16.1 Beneficence (Right to protection from discomfort and harm)

Burns and Grove (2013) described beneficence as the participant‘s right to be protected from any harm or discomfort that might arise from participating in a study. This ethical principle stresses that the researcher should not place participants in any circumstances that may cause any sort of harm but rather do good. The participants were not exposed to any type of harm in the course of the voluntary study.

The principle of beneficence is manifested in the risk/benefit ratio. There is an inherent discrepancy in the ratio, however, because the word ‗benefit‘ has no connotation to probability, whereas risk entails a future occurrence (Botma et al., 2010). Researchers have a duty to minimise harm and to maximise benefits to the participants.

3.16.2 Informed consent

Informed consent is an essential part of any research study. Participants must be given sufficient information about the study, must be able to understand the information that is provided, and must be allowed freedom of choice as to whether

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they want to participate or not. Consent must be voluntary and in no way must the researcher coerce participation. Informed consent is provided in writing and the participant is asked to sign this form. The purpose of the study, the participants‘ responsibilities, the costs and benefits are outlined in the document (Polit and Beck, 2012).

Informed consent covers three important themes: participants must be informed of what is required from them; the researcher must ascertain if the participants have an accurate understanding of the research; and participants must be allowed to choose whether or not they want to be a part of the study (Creswell, 2012). The researcher‘s covering letter explained the research purpose aims and purposes clearly and concisely and participation was voluntary. Participants were also made aware that even if they initially consented to the study, they were able to withdraw consent at any time during the study. Informed consent was obtained in writing from the relevant authority of the private healthcare group in KwaZulu-Natal.

3.16.3 Principle of justice

Brink et al., (2012) stated that the participants in a study must be chosen using the process of fairness, i.e. all participants must be treated in a way that is fair and consistent. Participants are also selected on the basis that they will contribute to the study and not because they are available or can be manipulated in any way. Participants should not be given any special privileges or benefits for participation in a study.

The researcher must adhere to the research protocol and the information provided in the information leaflet; no new actions or interventions may be added without consent from the participants. Participants should also be provided with contact numbers should they feel the need to contact the researcher for clarity on the study (Botma et al., 2010). For this study, the researcher provided correct and honest information to the participants and abided to the information set provided during the course of data collection. No special benefits were bestowed on participants who were a part of the study.

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3.16.4 The right to privacy

Louis et al., (2011)) emphasised that researchers should ensure that their research does not infringe on the participants‘ privacy. The responses garnered during research must be guarded with the strictest level of confidence. For this study, all the data collection instruments were locked away in a place of safety and the researcher was the only individual who was able to access the data. Participants‘ rights to privacy were protected through anonymity and confidentiality.

3.16.5 Anonymity

Anonymity is an essential ethical consideration that must be adhered to, as it protects people‘s rights to privacy. The researcher should not be able to create a link between the respondent and the data that have been collected (Polit and Beck, 2012).The researcher must take every necessary step to ensure that the respondents remain nameless in the course of a study (Bryman, 2012). For this research, each questionnaire was allocated a coded number instead of a name. The researcher drew up a list of names with the matching code numbers for reference purposes only, which was securely locked away.

3.16.6 Confidentiality

The principle of confidentiality is maintained when participants‘ responses are not made public or available to people who were not directly related to the research. As discussed, various confidentiality procedures are used by researchers (Ram, 2013).A breach of confidentiality occurs when a researcher allows unauthorised person access to the collected data (Creswell, 2012). Kumar (2011) discussed the guidelines to maintain confidentiality, as a breach may cause psychological harm to participants. These guidelines include only capturing essential personal and identifying information on the data collection sheets, ensuring limited access to data, locking up the data collection tools, and the anonymous reporting of data. For this study, the data collection tools were not accessible to anyone except the researcher.

3.16.7 Non-maleficence

The principle of non-maleficence must be maintained at all times. This implies that participants must not be exposed to any form of harm, be it emotional, physical,

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social or financial. Participants must be chosen based on their ability to increase the body of knowledge on the subject under study. Researchers must take all steps to ensure that participants are protected from this (Polit and Beck, 2012). All participants in the study were protected from any sort of harm.

3.16.8 Principle of respect for all persons

The principle of respect lies in the premise that all persons are able to make their own decisions and are self-determined. The participants gave consent to participate in the study freely and without duress. The participants should also be allowed to withdraw from the study at any time. The researcher must further respect the values and traditions of the people who form part of the study group. Children and persons with disabilities or mental disorders require additional protection (Dillman et al., 2014).