CHC Review Criteria

For the CHC to approve a research protocol, the Committee must be satisfied that:

  • The topic is of relevance to the improvement of the health of the population and that necessary resources are available and confirmed by management.
  • Risks to research participants are minimal, or have been minimized as far as feasible.
  • Risks are reasonable in relation to the anticipated benefits. This includes consideration not only of risks to individual subjects, but also of risks to groups or communities that might arise as a result of the research (e.g. stigmatization of an ethnic or population sub-group).
  • The methodology proposed is sound and adequate to produce trustworthy results; and the researchers are qualified to carry out the research.
  • Selection of participants is equitable, given the purposes and setting of the research.
  • Adequate information is provided to potential research participants so that they can give informed consent, and that the informed consent is documented.
  • Informed consent should be documented prior to entry even though consent is an ongoing process.
  • If participants are likely to be vulnerable to manipulation or coercion, additional safeguards have been built in to the research design.
  • Privacy and confidentiality are respected.
 Section 50 (1) of Alberta’s Health Information Act indicates designated REBs assess whether adequate safeguards are in place at the time the research is carried out to protect the privacy of the participants whose health information is to be used for research.
  • The community is consulted and involved as is reasonably practical.
  • In proposals in which the community itself is a participant (i.e. participatory research), the following principles should be evident:
  1. full collaboration among the partners,
  2. mutual respect,
  3. full consideration of potential harms and benefits to the community, and
  4. involvement in every stage including dissemination.