3.2 Safeguarding
Offering confidentiality has already been mentioned as important for showing respect. If you are a professional and know the professional code to which you are beholden, then you will be aware of the limits to confidentiality professionals can offer. Professionals have legal responsibilities related to safeguarding and protection of both children and vulnerable adults to help protect their rights under the Care Act (HM Government, 2014) and the Children Act (HM Government, 2004). In terms of their protection, this means that there is a collective responsibility to share information about criminal activity or circumstances which appear to threaten a minor or vulnerable adult’s safety or wellbeing, if this is disclosed. This legal obligation affects us all as we work as researchers collecting data from human participants; and a child-centred approach, with accountability, is advocated in UK government advice ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’:
14. Anyone working with children should see and speak to the child, listen to what they say, observe their behaviour, take their views seriously, and work with them and their families and the people who know them well when deciding how to support their needs.
199. Key decisions should be recorded and communicated to both the child and their parents or carers, so that everyone understands the action that has, or will be, taken to safeguard and promote their welfare.
Activity 6 Maintaining confidentiality
As will be covered more fully in Session 6, when looking at reporting and disseminating research, confidentiality (and associated anonymity) is sometimes found to be in tension with copyright laws and the rights others have for their original work to be acknowledged. This mainly affects published work, which researchers draw on and want to cite. A summary of these rights can be found at the University of Nottingham’s copyright basics webpage and the implications for researchers, especially aimed at doctoral researchers, can be found at the University of Nottingham’s copyright and research webpage. (Open the links in a new tab or window by holding down Ctrl [or Cmd on a Mac] when you click on the link.)