Health research with vulnerable groups
Doctoral School in Medicine, Biomedical Science and Technology at Aalborg University
Individuals and groups in vulnerable position are often depicted in uniform ways, stressing among others their social deprivation, functional impairment, and/or psychological vulnerability. Also, numerous programs run to improve the state of health of groups and individuals in vulnerable positions.
Yet, much more research is needed to better grasp the dimensions involved in healthy living with vulnerability. At the same time, research with groups and individuals in vulnerable positions opens for methodological and ethical considerations that are crucial to anyone interested in conducting sensitive research.
This course aims to provide PhD students with a space for reflecting on the numerous conceptual, methodological, and ethical dilemmas that follow when conducting research with groups in vulnerable positions.
The course will be designed so that lectures are mixed with group work and discussions of questions such as:
- How to conceptualise vulnerability?
- How to include vulnerable groups and individuals in the research process?
- How to work with the researchers’ own positionality and reflexivity?
- How to deal with ethical principles of research such as ‘informed consent’?