Informed consent refers to the process of fully informing children and their parents/carers of the purpose of the research and what their involvement will be, prior to their decision to participate or not. It is an explicit agreement which requires participants to be informed about and have an understanding of the research. Informed consent must be given voluntarily and be renegotiable, so that children may withdraw at any stage of the research process (sometimes referred to as on-going or process consent / assent).

Related Terms:
Assent,
Dissent

« Back to Glossary Index