Gatekeepers : friend or foe

1
Gatekeepers friend or foe?

• Dr Tina Moules
• Director of Research
• Anglia Ruskin University
• East Road
• Cambridge
• Tina.moules_at_anglia.ac.uk

2

• Because of the status of children and young
  people, adults are frequently charged with making
  decisions on their behalf.
• Accessing children for research studies and
  gaining informed consent can therefore normally
  needs the co-operation of a number of different
  gatekeepers.

3
Overview of presentation.

• Who are the gatekeepers and what is their role?
• Factors affecting the decisions of gatekeepers
  and the consequences.
• Enhancing chances of gaining access to children
  via gatekeepers.

4
Who are the gatekeepers?.............

• Gatekeepers are those who give researchers access
  to the research field and to participants.
• Hek et al. (1996) define gatekeepers as those
  people who attempt to safeguard the interests of
  others.

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Who are the gatekeepers?.............

• Research Ethics Panels
• Professional health and social care providers
• Education professionals
• Legal guardians
• Family members
• The children

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A long chain of negotiation...

• In a study of looked after children by
  Heptinstall (2000) there were potentially 7
  levels of gatekeepers in two authorities making a
  total of up to 14 people to influence
• Research Group of Associate Directors of Social
  Services (would now be an ethics panel)
• Directors of Social Services
• Childrens Service Managers
• Social Workers
• Birth parents
• Foster parents
• Children

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And another....

• In my own study with children who had been in
  hospital I had to gain access via the following
  gatekeepers
• 2 Local NHS Research Ethics Committees
• 14 Consultants
• 4 Ward managers
• And then.
• Following a change of plan
• 4 Head teachers
• Parents
• Young people

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The bottom line is..

• Researchers can normally only access children and
  young people with the co-operation of a number of
  different gatekeepers.
• No co-operation no research.

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Gatekeepers influence..

• Gatekeepers play a vital role in safeguarding
  children from damaging research. However..
• They can also use their position and power to
  defer to adult decisions thereby censoring
  children.
• Gatekeepers ability to block childrens
  participation can constrain children from
  deciding for themselves whether or not to
  participate and prevents their voices from being
  heard.

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Gatekeepers decisions..

• Heath et al (2004) studied researchers views and
  experiences of the impact gatekeepers have on
  research and the difficulties encountered in
  negotiating informed consent via institutional
  gatekeepers.
• Gatekeepers responses sensitive arranging access
  to young children
• Access denied blocking even before parents can
  give their views about participation.
• Gatekeepers who are really keen can actually make
  dissent by children difficult (Curtis et al.
  2004).

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Factors affecting gatekeepers decisions..

• The attitudes of adults
• Power relationships
• Beliefs and values
• Responsibility to protect
• Emotional state
• Lack of trust

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Factors affecting gatekeepers decisions..

• Situational factors
• Context of the research
• Nature of the topic (Cree et al. 2002)
• Time constraints
• Other events
• Lack of information

13
Factors affecting gatekeepers decisions..

• Individual characteristics of children/young
  people
• Perceived level of competence,
• Level of maturity and confidence
• Past experience
• Emotional state
• Age

14
Enhancing chances of positive response

• Ethically sound, good proposal, well prepared
• Clear detailed information
• Understand gatekeepers philosophy/structure
• Know who to approach
• Show the benefits
• Use your networks, negotiate.

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Children and young people as gatekeepers..

• It could be argued that these are the most
  important gatekeepers.
• Even if all other levels of gatekeeper give their
  agreement or consent for a child to participate
  it is the child who should have the final word.
• Children quite rightly may not want to
  participate
• However..

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Children and young people as gatekeepers..

• It may be difficult for a children to dissent
  when all the adults around them have
  agreed/consented.
• Consent may be based on a desire to please or
  even a fear of the consequences of being seen as
  uncooperative.
• Adults may coerce or use their power to force a
  child to participate.
• Childrens consent may be assumed.

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Summary.

• Accessing children for research will always be
  dependent to some extent on gatekeepers.
• Gatekeepers can play a positive role in
  protecting children from poor research.
• However gatekeepers can also have a negative role
  by silencing childrens voices.
• Know who your gatekeepers are.
• Respect the child as gatekeeper.