Research Ethics Consultation Committee

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The Community Mental Health Drug and Alcohol Research Network (CMHDARN) seeks to encourage researchers to participate in an informal peer-review process focusing on ethical issues in order to promote ethical conduct in practice-based research in mental health and alcohol and other drugs sectors. This process helps to improve the quality of research related to these sectors, which, in turn, makes the research more useful for CMHDARN’s members. CMHDARN will support the community-managed mental health and AOD sectors to both implement and demonstrate ethical research in their workplace.

The CMHDARN Research Ethics Consultation Committee (RECC) has been established to provide ethical guidance to researchers and research participants. The RECC provides a researchers’ forum for ongoing consultation and guidance in matters of ethics regarding human research enquiries within the mental health and alcohol and other drugs sectors.

How can the CMHDARN RECC help you?

The RECC can assist with all of the following:

• Reviewing project proposals, methodology and data collection tools in the mental health (MH) and alcohol and other drugs (AOD) sectors from an ethical perspective
• Providing ethical review for CMHDARN and partner-organisation research projects that do not require ethical approval from another institution (e.g. a Human Research Ethics Committee) to ensure that the research meets the ethical requirements stipulated in the ‘CMHDARN Best Practice Guidelines’
• Providing guidance and advice on engagement with people with lived experience and use of their feedback in research data and publications
• Providing approval for CMHDARN/NADA/MHCC to support, participate in or promote a research project
• Providing information about ethical standards and ethical practice guidelines appropriate to working in the mental health and MH sectors
• Providing advice and support for an application to a Human Research Ethics Committee.

The following are all eligible to receive ethical guidance from the RECC:

• Anyone conducting research relating to clients/consumers who receives services from MHCC and NADA member organisations
• NADA member organisations who wish to access data from the NADAbase
• Academic researchers who wish to conduct research in and with the MH and AOD sectors
• Service delivery organisations in the MH and AOD sectors who are conducting an internal evaluation
• Service delivery organisations in the MH and AOD who want to publish research/evaluation results
• Researchers who want CMHDARN/NADA/MHCC to support or participate in their research in the MH and AOD sectors.

How can you request ethics and research review of your project?

Read the CMHDARN RECC – Information for Applicants guide. Then, complete the Request for Ethical Research Consultation or the Request for CMHDARN, NADA and/or MHCC Promotion form and submit it to the CMHDARN Coordinator via email.

The CMHDARN RECC will meet to explore your application and then will provide feedback, ask questions and make recommendations.

More information

For more information contact the CMHDARN Research Network Coordinator on info@cmhdaresearchnetwork.com.au