The RESPECT Guidelines project is a CIHR-funded project aiming to create and disseminate a formal reporting guideline for health research that involves people experiencing incarceration as participants.
We convened an international Working Group made up of 15 experts from 7 countries with experience in prison health research. About half of these experts have lived experience of incarceration. At the first meeting, the Working Group made key decisions about project scope and design.
Our team has completed a review of existing guidance on conducting research in prisons published by community groups, national or international organizations, or in the peer reviewed literature. Currently, we are conducting a Delphi process; through a series of surveys, experts in prison health research from around the world will provide, and then rank, ideas about what should be included in the guidelines.
Informed by the evidence review and Delphi process, over the next several months, the Working Group will meet to discuss and decide what items will be included in the final reporting guideline. We will then widely share and promote the guidelines.
We hope these guidelines will be used by people across disciplines including researchers, policy makers, journal editors, ethics boards and advocates, and that this work will improve research reporting and support high-quality research in this field.
PI: Fiona Kouyoumdjian
Project Team: Kate McLeod, Lindsay Jennings, Jessica Gaber
Contact: Kate McLeod (kate.mcleod@mcmaster.ca)
Research Project Update
Prison Health, Research Project Update