Consent and assent in paediatric research in low-income settings

BACKGROUND: In order to involve children in the decision-making process about participation in medical research it is widely recommended that the child’s assent be sought in addition to parental consent. However, the concept of assent is fraught with difficulties, resulting in confusion among researchers and ethics committees alike. DISCUSSION: In this paper, we outline the current international debate surrounding pediatric consent and assent, and its unique challenges arising in low-income settings. We go on to propose some key requirements for a fit-for-purpose assent model in these difficult settings. The paper recommends that children who are competent, that is, children who are judged to be able to understand and retain relevant information, weigh this information in making a mature judgment, come to a decision and communicate the decision, should be able to consent for themselves. Our proposal is that where the decision about whether to participate in a study is of comparable complexity to the decisions the child is used to making in other aspects of his or her life, it should be made by the child him or herself. The relevant level of complexity should be judged by local standards rather than standards of the developed world. In the paper we explore some of the practical challenges and counter arguments of implementing this proposal. As in high-income settings, we argue that in the case of children who are judged to lack this level of competence both parental consent and assent from the child should be sought and go on to define assent as involving the child to the extent compatible to his or her maturity and with cultural norms and not as obtaining the child’s permission to proceed. SUMMARY: The concept of assent in the current guidelines is confusing. There is an urgent need for clearer guidelines that can be adapted for all types of paediatric research wherever it is to be carried out and an evidence-base concerning good assent/consent practice. This paper argues that a context specific approach should be adopted when assessing whether consent or assent should be sought from children in low-income settings.