A Framework for Analyzing the Ethics of Social Interventions

Investigators and practitioners of human behavior change must be more concerned with the ethical ramifications of their work. The recently changed HFM guidelines for the protection of human subjects highlight the necessity for the development of improved methods of identifying the ethical considerations in human behavior change research. In this paper, a framework, based on decision theory, is proposed as a means of anticipating and dealing with the ethical issues inherent in any change activity Three sets of actors (researchers, subjects, and concerned others) are identified as relevant participants in the change situation. A means for incorporating the viewpoints of each of these actors is developed and examples are presented to demonstrate applications of the framework.