Research grants

Winners

Web Content Article

2023

The team led by Carme Isern, Universitat de les Illes Balears

Individuals with medical conditions, particularly psychiatric ones, are often judged to be less credible due to biases associated with their status as patients. This form of discrimination is termed “epistemic injustice,” and it arises when individuals from specific social groups are regarded as less capable of possessing valid knowledge or seen as less credible compared to others.


This project explores the cognitive foundations of epistemic injustice in healthcare, using the experimental method to investigate the cognitive underpinnings of this form of discrimination. In particular, the authors examine whether epistemic injustice in individuals with clinical diagnoses is influenced by factors such as the impact of the label implied by the diagnosis, the epistemic privilege given to scientific and medical evidence, and the influence of the clinical context.
 

The team led by Sara Domènech, Fundació Salut i Envelliment of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Foundation for Health and Ageing UAB)

This project studies the feasibility of the initial prototype for human-robot social interaction, exploring the diverse functionalities offered by the Pepper robot. The study encompasses interaction through voice and a tablet, covering features such as conversation, information retrieval, and cognitive and physical stimulation exercises. Study participants will test the Pepper robot in two weekly sessions over the course of a month.

 

Simultaneously, the study authors will observe and reflect on the ethical aspects associated with the implementation of a social robot in residences of this kind. This will involve the analysis of applicable regulations and the identification of ethical concerns related to the use of social robots in these contexts.

 

The team led by Giulia Giovannini and Laura Esteve, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

While the term “obstetric violence” is contentious and not universally accepted by healthcare professionals, the visibility of cases where women claim to have experienced violations of their rights by healthcare providers is increasing, both during pregnancy and childbirth.

 

The project aims to establish a legal argument that ensures the autonomy of pregnant women. The project involves two key aspects: re-examining the perception of pregnant women as patients and clarifying the status of the foetus in a medical context. The overarching goal of this work is to reassess the liability of professionals in perinatal contexts, ensuring that any potential harm to the well-being of the foetus does not result in non-consensual interventions in pregnant women.

Marcos Alonso, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

The notion of ethics of care has primarily centred on addressing issues such as the importance of patient emotional care, respecting human dignity, promoting personalised care, and advocating for deinstitutionalisation. Yet the significance of personal identity in the context of care has been seldom addressed, despite its central role in many care situations.

 

The goal of this project is to investigate the significance of personal identity in the context of care. Simultaneously, it aims to develop a more precise and comprehensive understanding of this concept in relation to the ethics of care. To do so, this project examines the issue of personal identity across different realms of care in order to develop an ethical framework for institutions.
 

The team led by Mónica Fernández, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Biocruces Bizkaia (Biocruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute)

Despite the increasing significance of homelessness as a social problem characterised by elevated morbidity and mortality rates, substantial evidence suggests that individuals experiencing homelessness often have limited access to palliative care, and when available, it often comes too late. Literature on this phenomenon raises questions about whether palliative care models designed for the general population are also suitable and acceptable for the homeless.

 

Corresponding to the initial phase of a doctoral research project, this study aims to outline and enhance our understanding of the factors influencing access to palliative care for homeless individuals with life-threatening or life-limiting illnesses. Emphasis is placed on gathering insights from healthcare professionals and third-sector organisations actively engaged with the homeless population in the metropolitan area of Bilbao, Spain.
 

Team led by Guillermo García, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Drawing from a survey that asked respondents about the priorities of biomedical research objectives to improve the quality of life for individuals with spinal cord injuries, the majority emphasised the importance of human dignity over factors like mobility, posture, or locomotion.

 

Building on this foundation, the study serves as a space for communication between patients and aspiring scientists. This initiative seeks to generate knowledge, foster empathy for patients living with neurological injuries, and empower them through the education and training of future professionals in the field.
 

2022

Team led by Juan Francisco Roldán of the Fundación de Investigación San Juan de Dios (San Juan de Dios Research Foundation)

This descriptive multicenter study examines the difficulties faced by healthcare workers in maintaining inpatient dignity in clinical practice. The absence of applicable quantitative tools in Spanish scientific literature that can be used to measure the dignity of hospitalized patients has led this project’s authors to translate the Inpatient Dignity Scale (IPDS) into Spanish and carry out an evaluation of the resulting version.

 

The objectives of the project involve the validation of the Spanish version of this questionnaire, a translation and cultural adaptation of this tool, and an analysis of its reliability in terms of internal consistency and stability over time. The authors then evaluate whether this tool is as reliable as the original.

Team led by Núria Masnou of Hospital Universitari de Girona Doctor Josep Trueta

The hypothesis posited in this research project concerns healthcare worker reluctance to observe patient autonomy regarding end-of-life decisions. Questions and difficulties arise as we try to strike a balance between the traditional duty of a physician to preserve life and the principle of patient autonomy in deciding when to end their life, and requesting medical assistance to do so.

 

In this regard, the goal of the project is to offer an initial overall picture of the experience of healthcare professionals working in Catalonia as the LORE legislation comes into effect, in order to build upon our knowledge and formulate proposals for improvement.

 

M. Esperança Ginebra, Elena Louroba and Joan Escarrabill of the University of Barcelona

The first part of this research work reviews the literature, contrasting legal and healthcare concepts in relation to informed consent and shared decision-making in order to elucidate common parameters, intersections, and differing perspectives. The authors propose the validation of legal categories based on the experience obtained both on the part of patients and healthcare workers.

 

The resulting knowledge is then used to formulate proposals for improvement of current legislation and informed consent documents used in healthcare practice in order to adjust them to the current legal and healthcare setting. The final part of the study involves a training session to transfer final results.

Adrián Villalba and Miguel Moreno of the University of Granada

New discoveries in the field of genetic engineering have obtained germ cells (artificial gametes) from human stem cells, which are undifferentiated. Artificial gametes offer a wide range of therapeutic possibilities, from infertility treatments to reproductive options for same-sex couples, people in the post-reproductive stage of life, or for single people wishing to have children.

 

This research project proposes a regulatory bioethical framework based on the principle of autonomy. The goal is to help determine acceptable or unacceptable situations in the field of assisted reproduction. The project also seeks to offer tools to evaluate regulatory compliance of practices involving the use of artificial germ cells and future assisted reproduction technology.

 

Publicactions:

 

Mar Vallès, Iris Parra and Ramón Ortega of the University of Granada

The bioethical debate on medical assistance in dying involves different groups with different viewpoints on the matter. However, the voices of the people requesting such assistance are often missing from this debate, their experience of the progression of their illness, their suffering, and the reasons compelling them to request medical assistance in dying.

 

To address this need, it is the aim of this project to build upon this knowledge by gathering testimonials and experiences of the very people faced with these end-of-life decisions. The goal here is to improve public policy, healthcare and social understanding of this medical service.

Team led by Jaime Fons of the Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunidad Valenciana (Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of the Valencian Region - FISABIO)

The donation of biological samples for research purposes presents numerous ethical challenges including donors’ passive participation in research, the predominant use of broad consent forms, the absence of information on the use of biological samples, and the low level of communication between donors and research teams.

 

The aim of this project is to co-create and pilot a digital portal to address these challenges and other donor demands. Using this tool, donors will be able to make decisions in real-time in connection to their informed consent and know where their samples are being used, fostering compliance with ethical principles regarding autonomy and fairness.

 

2021

María del Mar Cabezas, University of Salamanca

This project aims to explore the bioethical debate with respect to childhood, to consider the dilemmas, challenges and paradoxes that arise when we ask what minors require in terms of justice and psycho-social health.

 

To do this, it devises a theoretical and analytical plan to identify the specific ethical questions pertaining to childhood, and proposes a new form of attending to concrete cases related to the psycho-social health of minors, such as childhood obesity, depression and social exclusion.

Team led by Montserrat Puig, University of Barcelona

This project investigates the impact of the pandemic on the emotional system, health and quality of life of people with mental disability (multiple disability) who use residences in Catalonia, and of workers and relatives. The objective is to describe to the public authorities and the key decision-makers that occurred in residences from the start of the pandemic until completion of the vaccination programme (March 2021) and its consequences, to reflect on the most appropriate care model for these situations.

 

Research team formed by: Montserrat Puig, Antonio Rafael Moreno, Gemma Pérez, Montserrat Roca, Maria Teresa Lluch, Teresa Nicloás, Miguel Angel Hidalgo, Juan Francisco Roldán, Marta Prats, Zaida Palmira Agüera, Mª Aurelia Sanchez, Mª Carmen Moreno and Xavier Domènech

 

Team led by Rosauro Varo, ISGlobal

To gain a specific understanding of what is meant when we talk of structural violence in the context of colonization, health and bioethics, this project seeks to contextualize and define concepts such as "racism" and "colonization" with respect to the basic principles of bioethics and ethics as applied to medicine. It also seeks to offer a vision of health professionals in Africa, both expatriate staff and local, with respect to the racist ideology of colonialism.

 

Research team formed by: Rosauro Varo, Antonio Varo and Quique Bassat.

 

Jon Rueda and Ivar Allan Rodríguez, University of Granada

Gen-Ética Experimental consists in applying empirical and experimental methodologies to the study of the philosophical and psychological factors that influence people's moral evaluations of emerging genetic and genome technologies. Using controlled experiments, this project aims to generate empirical, philosophical and psychological knowledge about the what, the how and the why of legal and moral evaluations of these technologies.

Núria Vallès, of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and Júlia Pareto, of the University of Barcelona/Institute of Industrial Robotics and Information Technology, CSIC-UPC

The aim of this project is to ensure ensure the ethical use, governance and scrutiny of the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the health sector, in order to maximize the benefits of this technology and minimize the risks. Taking this as its starting point, the project seeks to develop an ethical framework to accompany the introduction of AI systems in public health campaigns, ensuring that AI is at the service of the common good and universal health coverage.

Team led by Pau Miquel of Fundació per la Recerca Sant Joan de Déu

Numerous studies have identified the lack of international research into palliative pediatric care. This project seeks to determine the main clinical aspects of such care, drawing on the clinical narratives of health professionals: it compares the different ethical perspectives of professionals on the death of a patient; the moral characterization of patients and those around them (family and care staff); analysis of how decision-making is reported; and evaluation of the pedagogic impact of the goodbye message, a tool to inform health professionals involved in treating and caring for a patient of that person's death.

 

Research team formed by: Pau Miquel, Ignasi Clemente, Balma Soraya Hernández, Lucía Navarro, Lucía Peñarrubia and Daniel Toro.

2020

Jordi Muñoz, University of Barcelona

Taking the advanced democracies as its starting point, this project aims to identify the nature of the dilemmas posed by the pandemic and to undertake an empirical analysis of people's preferences with respect to these dilemmas. Starting with four dilemmas (governance of the pandemic, individual freedom, the economy, and the pandemic as a global problem) the project proposes identifying a series of survey questions to identify citizens' priorities in this regard.

To the research team of Joaquín Hortal, Clinical Ethics Committee Granada North-east, Maite Cruz, Andalusian School of Public Health, and Javier Padilla, Servicio Madrileño de Salud

This study analyzes the arguments and reasoning of groups who are hostile to vaccination with reference to a possible vaccine against COVID-19 for the general population and to the flu vaccination among health professionals. The aim is to engage in deeper analysis and discussion of ethics and public health with respect to non-vaccination, facilitating interaction between health professionals and experts via a discussion forum.

 

Joaquin, Maite and Javier are all members of ESPACyOS

 

The team led by Andrea Rodríguez-Prat of the International University of Catalonia

A lot of people have died alone and in isolation as a result of the COVID-19 health emergency. This project sets out to explore the experience of COVID-19 survivors faced with the prospect of dying in isolation, and analyzes the ethical dimension of their experiences.

 

Josefina Goberna, University of Barcelona

This project sets out to deepen our knowledge of the different forms of vulnerability, violence and the loss of rights that pregnant women experience in the context of the pandemic. To this end, it aims to develop a training programme to promote better education for midwives and other health professionals to help them deliver respectful care for women in the current situation.

 

 

Rebeca Pardo of the International University of Catalonia and Montse Morcate of the University of Barcelona

This project aims to identify the various bioethical implications of photographic representations of the pandemic in the media and to detect the photographic narratives specific to the pandemic, both those produced by professionals and by ordinary people, including images shared on the internet.

 

The team led by Anna Falcó and Loris Bonetti, with researchers from the University of Barcelona, the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland and the Universitá degli Studi of Milan

This study sets out to identify the ethical issues in care for critically ill patients during the COVID-19 crisis from the perspective of ICU professionals. To achieve this, the researchers propose exploring the ethical values and principles that are prioritized when taking decisions regarding the care of critically ill patients, with the aim of delivering improvements to reduce the risk of ethical conflicts in health crises or pandemics.

The team led by Laura Martínez of Sant Joan de Déu Research Foundation

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic health crisis, this project sets out to analyze observance of the ethical principles and recommendations set out by the Drug Research Ethics Committee (CEIm) in evaluations of protocols submitted in the context of the pandemic, with the aim of understanding the discourse and practice of researchers with respect to the ethical requirements of coronavirus research.

 

Belén Jiménez, of the Open University of Catalonia, and Ignacio Brescó, of Aalborg University

The appearance of ‘griefbots', enabling us to continue chatting with somebody who is no longer with us, or the chatbots used to help those receiving palliative care to face the prospect of death, raise numerous ethical questions about our relationship with technology. This project seeks to explore them, linking them with the latest trends in clinical psychology, which stress the importance of affirming the existence of continuing bonds with the dead person.

2019

Mª del Carmen Gete-Alonso y Calera and Judith Solé Resina, Autonomous University of Barcelona

This project proposes that we need a new, wider legal meaning of the term ‘progenitor', one which goes beyond biological parents to include other people who are directly involved in creating a new life. This would open the door to the drafting of new laws to cover all the realities that need to be taken into account.

 

Jordi Mundó Blanch, University of Barcelona

The general objective of this project is to study the application of the trust structure to the doctor–patient professional relationship, and to examine the bioethical consequences associated with this model. The project also aims to promote reflection on the institutional application of this research, which seeks to recognize and promote patient autonomy.

 

César Palacios González, Oxford University

This project focuses on the need to undertake bioethical analysis of the application of Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques, a treatment that was initially developed to prevent mitochondrial DNA diseases but has also been used to treat fertility problems, despite the lack of scientific evidence to support its efficacy.

 

Team led by María F. Jiménez Herrera, Rovira i Virgili University

This project takes as its starting point the fact that, during the academic education of nursing students, insufficient attention is paid to the ethical view of the discipline. The aim is to promote the creation of instruments to assist with the design of educational interventions to increase ethical competencies and sensitivity in nursing practice.

 

Team led by Gonzalo Díaz Cobacho and Alberto Molina Pérez, University of Granada

The main objective of this study is to open up a new line of bioethics research into the diversity of definitions and criteria when determining death. The study seeks to explore the theoretical justification for and ethical challenges raised by this diversity, and to evaluate its potential impact on society and on health professionals with respect to organ donation and transplants.

 

2018

Team led by Silvia Poveda

Silvia Poveda, Fundació Sanitària Mollet.

 

This project seeks to analyse knowledge of and attitudes towards the Advance Directives Document (ADD) and Advance Decision Planning (ADP) by health professionals in the Emergency Health Services. The research will focus on the ethical conflict that may arise from health professionals' difficulties in both identifying and implementing advance directives.

 

Research team: Anna Falcó, Mireia Vicente, Dolors Rodríguez, Itziar De Lecuona and Pere Sánchez

Poveda‑Moral et al. BMC Med Ethics (2021) 22:75 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-021-00646-y

 

Priscila Giraldo
Priscila Giraldo, Institut Hospital del Mar d'Investigacions Mèdiques.
 
The main objective of this project is to develop a mediation programme designed to provide reconciliation following medical errors, aimed both at patients (the primary victim) and at health professionals (the secondary victim).
 
Mònica Sumoy
Mònica Sumoy, Universitat Rovira i Virgili.
 
This study focuses on how human suffering is portrayed on the screen; how the individual who is suffering responds to the events and people that may in some way influence their state of suffering and thus affect the progress of their condition. It also seeks to compare the treatment of care and affection in the cinema with the way these are treated in real life.
 
Andreu Segura
Andreu Segura is an epidemiologist and a specialist in public health.
 
This project explores whether it is possible to reduce the harm associated with medical and health practice, by promoting caution as a core value for health professionals. The aim is to provide information and to identify criteria as a basis for designing more extensive research into values and attitudes in professional training and practice.
 
 
Team led by Albert Granero

Alberto Granero, University of Barcelona

This project seeks to evaluate the process of evaluating the planning of advance directives in patients with severe mental disorders, by monitoring various structural, process and results indicators over a 2-year period. It aims to define the communication and relational process involved in planning an advance directive, and to promote the use of such tools.

 

Research team: Albert Granero, Miríam Santamaría, Pablo Hernando, Siddarta Acebillo, Igor Merodio, Montserrat Carmona y Alejandra Rubio
 

 

 

Ana Mª González

Ana M. González, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya


This project explores messages and interactions between users of web platforms and social media related to eating disorders, with the aim of expanding our knowledge of which visual and text messages have the most impact and exercise the most influence. We hope to improve guidelines for sharing information designed to combat gender stereotypes and risky eating behaviours.
 

 

 

2017

Ion Arrieta

Ion Arrieta of University of the Basque Country/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

The aim of this research is to explore the nature of the concept of autonomy habitually used in the ethics of care and medical ethics, and the possible shortcomings of this concept. It will also seek to investigate the factors that lead to such low treatment compliance among patients with psoriasis.

 

Hugo Viciana

Hugo Viciana of Instituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados (IESA-CSIC).


This project uses a survey of a representative sample to investigate how the Spanish population conceives disagreements around a list of prototypical ethical questions. The project also aims to identify social and cognitive correlations to propose a model for understanding popular attitudes around disagreement in this area. Finally, it will conduct a study with healthcare and bioethics professionals to examine aspects where the reasoning of specialists tends to differ from that of the general population.
 

Alicia Ortega, Christian Villavicencio and Cristina Garzón

The team led by Christian Villavicencio of Caredoctors


The research aims to explore the values and wishes of patients with chronic, complex illness and patients with chronic, advanced illness. It also seeks to identify the perceptions of their families regarding their values and wishes in an irreversible situation with a poor prognosis. The project will conduct a descriptive, prospective study with patients at the Fundación Santa Susanna, Caldes de Montbui.


 

Sabel Gabaldón

Sabel Gabaldón of the University of Barcelona

This is a doctoral thesis that aims to conduct applied ethical research on medical and psychological interventions in children and adolescents with gender variability, transsexual issues, and categorization using the current term: gender dysphoria.

Júlia Martín

Júlia Martin Badia of the University of Barcelona.


This project aims to construct and publish an innovative play and learning tool in the health setting. This seeks to implement pedagogical approaches in hospitals that consist in humanizing support for hospitalized minors by responding effectively to their biopsychosocial and educational needs before, during and after hospitalization. It is inspired by narrative bioethics and role playing.
 

2016

Francisco José Eiroa Orosa
The team led by Francisco José Eiroa Orosa, of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology of the University of Barcelona, for: "The status of patients' preferences in the practice of mental health in Catalonia".
 
The purpose of this study is to identify the opinion and practice of users and professionals with regard to incorporating patient preferences into the care process in mental health. It also seeks to explore the obstacles to the process of implementing potential shared decision-making programs and patient preferences in mental health. Finally, the study makes proposals designed to inform both professionals and users about patients' rights, and the benefits and practical advantages of incorporating their preferences into the mental health care process.
 
Alejandra Fernández Trujillo
The team led by Alejandra Fernández Trujillo, of Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, for: "Ethics of care applied to the intensive care unit".
 
Patients in critical condition who are admitted to intensive care units (ICU) are often immersed in a tangle of cables and sophisticated monitoring and life support equipment. In a health context in which issues of how to make health care more human and patient-focused, with the aim of ensuring that care includes both physical and emotional aspects to ensure a more comprehensive approach to the loss of health, ICUs should not be ignored. The principal objective of this study consists in comparing the care received by patients admitted to the ICU with that received by patients admitted to other hospital departments.
Miquel Domènech Argemí
The team led by Miquel Domènech Argemí, of the Department of Social Psychology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, for: "Ethics for robots: Some considerations in the design of social robots for children's hospitals".
 
The aim of this research is to develop an ethical framework for the design and use of social robots in children's hospitals. The project will involve the different stakeholders in the process of designing and using social robots in hospital contexts. The aim is to construct an ethical framework that encapsulates the meanings, priorities, interests and concerns of all stakeholders. The research and development of this ethical framework will be conducted from the perspective of the ethics of care, while also integrating insights from scientific and social studies of the relationship between people and machines covered by the concept of empirical ethics.
 
Research published at Cuadernos de Bioética
Núria Oriol Peregrina
Núria Oriol Peregrina, of Hospital Universitario Mutua de Terrassa, Sociosanitario de Vallparadís, for: "Commitment Information Document (CID) in dietary adaptations in dysphagia".
 
Within the framework of the therapeutic relationship established between the health professional and the patient-family unit, the professional's desire to help the patient to improve his or her situation can come into conflict with the patient's own values or preferences. On the one hand, the health professional may wish to ensure that the patient understands the suitability of the proposed treatment; on the other, there is the need for the patient to take decisions as autonomously as possible. The project identifies the obstacles to decision-making by patients admitted to the Sub-acute Unit of a Hospital Centre who have difficulties swallowing, and who require adaptations to their diet.
 
Janet Delgado Rodríguez
Janet Delgado Rodríguez, of the Doctorate and Postgraduate School of the University of La Laguna, for: "Relational approaches: vulnerability and autonomy in bioethics".
 
The main purpose of this study is to analyze and redefine the conceptual framework that has been used to date to develop the notion of vulnerability within the sphere of bioethics. It takes as its starting point the need to develop new ethical focuses and perspectives that raise our awareness of vulnerability, and the possible objective and subjective harm caused by structural inequalities and violence, in an approach that incorporates the ethics of ‘alterity' or otherness. 
 
Rosana Triviño

Rosana Triviño Caballero, of the Institute of Philosophy of Spain's Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), who was awarded a grant for her study: "Comparative study of protocols for accessing the interruption of pregnancy in the European Union (ProtoAccess)."

 


The purpose of the project is to determine whether the conditions for accessing the interruption of pregnancy (IP) in European Union countries reflect the needs of women who are affected, and respect the classic principles of bioethics (autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice), reinterpreted in the light of feminist theories of care.


The project aims to conduct a comparative analysis of differences between practice and legislation in the member states of the European Union, possible reasons for this, and the potential impact of such requirements on access to IP. It also seeks to offer a framework protocol designed to adjust the conditions of access, in cases where this could be necessary.


 

2015

Gemma Robleda and Josep-E. Baños

 

To Gemma Robleda and Josep-E. Baños of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and Pompeu Fabra University, respectively, for the project: "Evaluating pain in adults without the capacity for communication. A bioethical analysis in hospitalization units for critical patients" [L'avaluació del dolor en persones adultes sense capacitat de comunicació. Un anàlisi bioètic en les unitats d'hospitalització de pacients crítics].

 

Establishing the existence and intensity of pain is necessary if we are to provide pain relief, but in practice it is often very difficult to do so, particularly in patients who lack the capacity for communication. This study aims to analyze the pain evaluation methods used in units caring for critical patients, and to identify how frequently they are used. It will also seek to identify the pain relief treatments applied in painful procedures in these units, and to discover the opinions of the health professionals who work in them.

Elena Lauroba Lacasa

 

To Elena Lauroba of the University of Barcelona for the project: "The legal protection of intersex people: reconsidering the (arbitrary?) assignation of gender from a legal perspective" [La protección jurídica de las personas intersexuales: repensar desde el derecho las asignaciones (¿arbitrarias?) de género].

 

The author submitted a proposal to research the legal situation of intersex people – those who, in biological terms, cannot be unequivocally identified as belonging to one or other gender (male or female). Her aim is to analyze the level of protection afforded to their rights, both with regard to human rights and in terms of private law (name, privacy, marriage, etc.). She also aims to identify specific initiatives and actions in the public policy sphere. 

 

Sonia Jimeno Ramírez

 

To Sonia Jimeno Ramírez of the University of Barcelona for the project: "Biotechnological patents: at the limits of legality" [Las patentes biotecnológicas: en los límites de la legalidad].

 

This research project seeks to analyze the ethical limits on industrial and intellectual property, particularly with regard to biotechnological patents or "patents on life". The author will explore their social, ecological and health impact, in order to evaluate both the legality and the legitimacy of an issue that has been controversial both within the scientific and academic community and within civil society as a whole.

 

Loreto María García Moyano

 

To Loreto María García Moyano of the University of Zaragoza for the project: "Constructing a tool to quantify professional commitment in nursing" [Constructo de un instrumento para cuantificar el compromiso profesional en enfermería]. 

 

The aim of this study is to construct a valid, reliable instrument to quantify the commitment of nursing professionals in Spain. Care is what defines the nursing profession. However, at present this is considered only from a technical perspective, and the ethical dimension – consisting of elements such as accompaniment, empathy and confidentiality – is ignored. Quantifying professional responsibility or commitment in nursing would help to identify the factors that underpin it, and would also be useful as a means of preventing burnout.  

 

Lydia Feito Grande and Tomás Domingo Moratalla

 

To Lydia Feito Grande and Tomás Domingo Moratalla of the Complutense University in Madrid for the project: "Narrative bioethics: applying the model in the clinical and educational setting" [Bioética narrativa: aplicación del modelo en el ámbito clínico y educativo].

 

The authors argue that narrative bioethics provides the necessary counterpoint to a rationalist ethics that focuses on decisions and abstract principles, and that it does so on the basis of attending to the experiences of those affected. This study aims to develop the practical application of the narrative bioethics model described in the book Bioética Narrativa (Escolar and Mayo, 2013), in a second book and also through the development of training materials (worksheets, exercise books, DVDS etc.), by bringing together resources that would otherwise be difficult for trainers to access, and by organizing events to promote the sharing of experiences and discussion of the issues. 

 

Maite Cruz Piqueras

 

To the team led by Maite Cruz Piqueras of the Andalucian School of Public Health for the project: "Non-vaccination as a meeting point: analyzing discourse to build bridges" [La no vacunación como punto de encuentro: analizando discursos para tender puentes].

 

This study seeks to highlight the importance of and the reasons behind the argument against vaccination in children, which is often given far less coverage in the media than the countervailing arguments in favour. The researchers want to find points of dialogue and understanding between the two positions, starting from the exploration of the viewpoints of parents and health professionals who are opposed to vaccination, and of children who have not been vaccinated. As a result, the authors aim to develop a document with recommendations for institutions and health professionals, and to generate analysis and debate of the issue.

 

 

Research group: Maite Cruz Piqueras (Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública), Joaquín Hortal Carmona (Hospital de Alta Resolución de Guadix), Javier Padilla Bernáldez (Hospital Universitario Virgen de Valme) and Ainhoa Rodríguez de Cortázar (Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública).

 

2014

Priscila Giraldo

The team led by Priscila Giraldo of the Institut Hospital del Mar d'Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM) for the project: "Comunicación y disculpa después de un error médico" (Communication and apology after a medical error).

Although there are currently a large number of studies that demonstrate the impact of medical errors on patients, research on the communications after such errors occur is still incipient. Multiple factors such as social reputation, shame, or just a lack of institutional or social support, inhibit many professionals when communicating what has happened after they commit an error. This project aims to research these aspects, and analyze the strategies followed by other countries to produce a series of legal and ethical recommendations and to provide Spanish healthcare centers with a suitable program for communicating errors and making apologies.

 

This research has been published in Gaceta Sanitaria (Health Gazette) as a brief article:

 

Giraldo P, et al. Análisis de las barreras y oportunidades legales-éticas de la comunicación y disculpa de errores asistenciales en España. Gac Sanit. 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaceta.2015.11.007

 

You can read it here 

(in spanish)

 

 

 

Jordi Cabòs Teixidó

Jordi Cabòs Teixidó of the Universitat de Barcelona for the project: "Epidemiologia de la Resiliència" (Epidemiology of Resilience).

This research project offers an ethical reflection in relation to the creation of meaning when faced with difficult situations. The study aims to examine the role of organizations and healthcare workers when helping to create a meaning and overcome the circumstances that millions of citizens are currently suffering due to the devastating effect of the economic crisis.

Míriam de la Flor

Míriam de la Flor of the Hospital Universitari Joan XXIII for the project: "Programa de toma de decisiones compartida en el cáncer de mama con mastectomía. El derecho de la mujer a decidir" (Shared decision-making program in breast cancer with mastectomy. The right of women to decide).

The diagnosis of breast cancer entails a situation of great stress. With this in mind, the project proposes the creation of an application that uses a fictional character (an avatar) to accompany women on a virtual tour that follows the decision-making process for the different therapeutic possibilities offered.

Oriol Yuguero Torres

Oriol Yuguero Torres of the Universitat de Lleida for the project: "Estudio de la empatía de los médicos y enfermeras de Atención Primaria de la Región Sanitaria de Lleida y su relación con las variables clínica" (Study of the empathy of physicians and nursing staff in Primary Care in the region of Lleida and its relationship with clinical variables).

This project analyzes the level of empathy shown by healthcare professionals working in primary care centers in the region of Lleida. Various studies have linked the level of empathy, the ability that these professionals have in putting themselves in the situation of the patient, with greater ethical competence.

 

Sergio Ramos Pozón

Sergio Ramos Pozón of the Universitat de Barcelona for the project: "El documento de voluntades anticipadas en salud mental" (The advance directives document in mental health).

The overall aim of this research consists in conducting a theoretical reflection based on empirical data on the need for psychiatric advance directives (PAD) in mental healthcare.

Omar García Zabaleta

Omar García  Zabaleta of the Universidad del País Vasco for the project: "El concepto de autonomía del DSM 5: rasgos y posibles implicaciones de su modificación" (The concept of autonomy of the DSM5: characteristics and possible implications of its amendment).

This project aims to address the definition of the concepts of health and sickness and what we consider normal and what can be classified as pathological; aspects which have traditionally been a necessary and complicated task for psychiatry. From the beginnings of medicine, there have been many attempts to clarify the nature of both concepts and the fine line that separates them. However, even today one could argue that none of these has proved to be entirely convincing.

2013

María Amparo Bodi

María Amparo Bodi of the Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV) for the project: A description of practices to limit life-sustaining therapy in ICU and the potential impact on donation after controlled cardiac death.


The project aims to establish the basis for implementing a program for controlled donation after cardiac death (DAC), at the Joan XXII University Hospital. A prospective study was designed for this purpose to determine the current circumstances of life-sustaining treatment limitation (LSTL) and the characteristics of the patients to whom it is applied.

Silvia Del Castillo Arrojo

To Silvia Del Castillo Arrojo of the Fuenlabrada University Hospital for the project: How implantable defibrillators are currently managed in Spain in terminally ill patients and in end-of-life care. Are we considering deactivation?


Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) have proven to be useful in preventing sudden death originating from cardiac arrhythmia. However the use of ICDs has given rise to controversy in recent years. The aims of this study are to discover the current situation at centers which implant and monitor the defibrillators in Spain in terminally ill patients or with a poor quality of life. The research focuses on finding out whether an established protocol exists for ICD management in terminal cases, and whether patients are informed of the possibility of deactivating the electrical shock therapies, and who decides this, among other issues.

Noelia Igareda

To Noelia Igareda of the Faculty of Law at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona for the project: The right to know the biological origins versus anonymity in the donation of gametes.


The aim of this research is to study how the right to know the biological origins can be guaranteed in our legal system, and how this right can be protected with the anonymity of male and female gametes in the field of assisted reproduction techniques. The three lines of research are resumed in:

  • a study of the current legal regulation of European citizens' rights in EU legislation and the EU Charter;
  • an analysis of the opinions of citizens on the right to know one's own origins, in the context of new forms of affiliation born through assisted reproduction techniques;
  • the identification and analysis of the arguments for and against the anonymity of the donors of gametes in recent European and international literature from bioethics, legal and medical perspectives.
Elvira Pértega

To Elvira Pértega of the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón for the project: The use of physical restraints in pediatric psychiatry units: Is this an ethical clinical practice?


The use of physical restraints is the source of ongoing controversy and one of the unresolved problems of institutional psychiatry. It is currently being considered an error rather than a treatment. This project examines the use of physical restraints from the perspective of error. It aims to establish that the established dimensions of the physical restraints are erroneous and to examine the differences between this concept and appropriate practice or malpractice.

2012

Michelle Piperberg

To Michelle Piperberg of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Barcelona for the project: About the "person". An approach to the discussions about the end of life.

This project has several aims: The first is to define the concept "person" within the context of bioethics in developed countries in order to later analyze the different liberal attitudes and standpoints in end of life debates. The project also aims at addressing the implications of the concept "person" in a practical sense and how this concept bonds with the decision making process at the end of life. Finally the study deals with issues in relation to discussions about the end of life process such as dualism (body-person) in other words the distinction between "biographical death" or that of the person, and "biological death" or that of the organism.

Germán Diestre

To the team led by Germán Diestre of the Albada Healthcare Center for the project: Implementation of Advance Care Planning at the Albada Health Center. A qualitative study.

The main purpose of this project is to discover the perceptions and aptitudes of patients/representatives, families and healthcare professionals at the Albada Healthcare Center in relation to Advance Care Planning (ACP) and compare these with the center's official care program for End of Life Care.
The aim is to provide proof that the introduction of ACP helps provide a better experience for patients, their families and healthcare professionals as well as a significant improvement in the quality of healthcare at the end of life. Additionally the study hopes to gain insight into how the different parties involved perceive the process, in order to develop areas of improvement in the healthcare program and to define new evaluation indicators and criteria.

Iván Ortega

To Iván Ortega and David Rodríguez Arias of the Institute of Philosophy at the Higher Council for Scientific Investigation (CSIC) for the project: Organ Donation in Spanish Emergency Ambulance Services (ODISEAS).

The aims of this project are, on the one hand to explore the opinions of the different parties involved and identify the ethical problems that arise from the current Donation after Cardiac Death (DCD) protocols due to the non-existence of parallel Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation programs. On the other hand, the study also aims to encourage the different parties involved to enter into an ethical deliberation on the mentioned conflicts. Finally, the study proposes that the way in which out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is dealt with, be made compatible with the aforementioned protocols and with future Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation programs. The study expects to have an effect on how the Emergency Health Services in Spain operate and on others that follow similar programs.

Rosa María Medina

To Rosa María Medina and Sandra Fernández of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Granada for the project: The triad formed by medical staff, family and patient in conditions of intersexuality. The situation in Spain.

The project aims to develop an exploratory study on the relationship between the team of professionals - the families - and patients in the context of the Spanish State, in cases of intersexuality in children.
In order to achieve this, it is essential to first determine the scope of the problem, the techniques and the different professionals that will interact with the mentioned triad. The second step is to analyze the role that the triad plays in the relationship that the patient maintains with his/her own body and identity. Finally, it is important to evaluate the results obtained, in order to achieve a better understanding of Informed Consent in cases of intersexuality.

2011

Anna Rodríguez Morera
To the team lead by Anna Rodríguez Morera of the Catalonian Oncology Institute in Gerona (Institut Català d'Oncologia de Girona) and Joaquin T. Limonero, from Psicology University of UAB, for the Project: Communication of advanced cancer from the fathers to the children and adolescents.
The project intends to analyze the emotional reactions and feelings of children and adolescents whose parents have cancer. It also aims to evaluate the capacity of children and adolescents to comprehend the situation when the death of their mother or father is imminent, and their capacity to handle the situation before, during and after the loss.
Marta Roca i Escoda

To Marta Roca i Escoda at the Institute of Law and technology at the UAB for the project: Gestation by substitution. Analysis of a current phenomenon.

The main aim of this project is to identify the different stances that emanate from the judicial and legislative discourse regarding this phenomenon.  Different points of view will be compared to the stance adopted by couples composed of two men, who see these techniques as a legitimate way to access paternity, and who argue that this is a question of social justice.

Magí Farré Albaladejo

To the team lead by Magí Farré Albaladejo and Astrid Hernández of the IMIM Foundation for the project: Placebo information in clinical trials and its influence on participant decision.

This project consists of two sub-projects.  The first is based on a review of how the placebo is explained on the information and consent pages for clinical trials presented to the CEIC-Parc de Salut Mar (Clinical Investigation Ethics Committee). The second, in a simulated clinical trial, aims to discover whether the amount of information provided to patients on the placebo, in the information pages, influences their decision to take part or otherwise.

Roser Marquet

Roser Marquet Palomer of the ICS EAP Canet de Mar (Canet de Mar Local Health Center) for the Project: Percepció de confidencialitat en les persones grans de l'àmbit rural (Perception of confidentiality in elderly patients in rural communities).

This project aims to discover the point of view of the elderly who live in rural areas: who they consider to be their necessary confidantes, what type of health information they allow these confidantes to be aware of, and under which circumstances.  The aim is to incorporate the findings of this study when designing the procedures to be used in healthcare centers in rural areas.

 
 
 

 

2010

Joan Canimas

To the team led by Joan Canimas of the Campus Arnau d'Escala Foundation for their: Guia orientativa per a guardadors de fet de persones amb malaltia d'Alzheimer als quals es proposa participar en projectes de recerca clínica (Orientation guide for de facto guardians of people with Alzheimer's disease who decide to take part in clinical investigation projects).

The main objective of the project is to confect an informative guide to help orientate de facto guardians or conservators concerning the process by which they decide whether or not the person they are taking care of should participate in a clinical trial.

Montserrat Guillaumet
To the team led by Montserrat Guillaumet of the Escola Universitària d'Infermeria Sant Pau for their research: L'experiència de ser cuidat en un hospital. Perspectiva des del client immigrat econòmic extracomunitari (The experience of being cared for in hospital from the perspective of the non EC economic immigrant).

This study arises in view of the interest and concern to explore, discover and understand, how immigrants being cared for in a hospital infirmary at any of the different Catalonian University Hospitals, feel about the experiences they go through. The study is centered on economic and / or political immigrants from outside the EC.
 
The methodology envisaged involves in-depth interviews and hermeneutical analysis of the narratives that are produced.
Sara Fidel Kinori
To the team led by Sara Fidel Kinori of the Psychiatry and Mental Health Research Group at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital for their Study: Protección de la confidencialidad en las historias clínicas informatizadas: los pacientes en la consulta de Salud Mental hospitalaria (Protecting confidentiality in digitalized clinical records: patients under mental health hospital consultation).

This project has the following objectives:
  • To find out the opinions of mental-health-care professionals and the methods they use to ensure the confidentiality of patient information stored in digital files.
  • To make proposals which can conciliate the common aspects of digitalized clinical records with the patient's right to confidentiality on certain specific details.
José Luís Villanueva

To the team led by José Luís Villanueva in a multi-center study carried out at five Madrid hospitals for their study: Ventilación mecánica, gastrostomía percutánea y toma de decisiones en pacientes con ELA: encuesta sobre la opinión de los pacientes, familiares y médicos (Mechanical ventilation, percutaneous gastrostomy and decision making in patients with ALS: an opinion survey among patients, their relatives and doctors).

The objective of this project is to evaluate the usefulness of planning treatment in advance when dealing with patients who have Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. In particular, the aim is to evaluate the different perceptions held among the individuals involved in the healthcare process (doctors, main family caregivers and patients). 
 

2009

Ana Lucía Noreña Peña
To Ana Lucía Noreña Peña and Elena Ferrer of the University Hospital of San Juan in Alicante for their work: Protocolo de investigación: Escuchando las voces de los niños. Aspectos éticos del proceso de informar a un menor hospitalizado (Listening to the voices of children. Ethical aspects of the process of informing hospitalized minors).

The aim of this study is to explore the positive and negative aspects of informing a hospitalized minor, and to explore the child's perception of this process. The aims of the project are:
 
  •  to identify the factors which facilitate or obstruct the process of informing the child and his or her family in a health setting
  • to understand the child's perception of the information supplied, from the perspective of health ethics.
María Isabel Tamayo Velázquez
To the team led by María Isabel Tamayo Velázquez of the Andalucian School of Public Health for the work: Portal sobre voluntades anticipadas en el mundo (Portal on advance directives across the world).

The purpose of this project is to create a global technological platform on advanced directives. The work will be developed using a web-based software application to incorporate contributions from a range of sources, and will use web 2.0 tools.
 
The portal will include information about legislation, advanced directive forms, reports on the situation regarding advance directives, and systematic reviews of advance directives. The platform will be developed in English and Spanish, but may also include texts in a variety of other languages, as appropriate.
José Luís Pérez Triviño
To José Luís Pérez Triviño of the Department of Legal Philosophy at the Pompeu Fabra University of Barcelona for the study: La eugenesia positiva y su impacto en la práctica deportiva (Positive eugenics and its impact on sporting practice)

Medicine has developed techniques which make it possible to submit embryos to preventive genetic testing to avoid the risk of transmitting hereditary diseases. However, this corrective intervention could give way to perfective intervention to improve memory, musculature and height, or to genetically select for sex. This forces us to consider whether genetic modifications in sportspeople to improve their physical abilities can be justified.
 
This study seeks to analyze and explore the problems deriving from traditional notions of effort and merit as the bases of sporting success, the impact of eugenesia on values of human freedom and responsibility, and equality in sporting practice. The study will analyze various biotechnological techniques designed to improve physical capacities, and will analyze the impact such techniques could have on our understanding of sporting ethics.

2008

Araceli Teixidó

The team directed by Araceli Teixidó of the Hospital St. Jaume of Calella for the study: Anàlisi qualitativa del procés d'informació diagnòstica en pacients amb demència a la Corporació de Salut del Maresme i la Selva: s'ha d'incloure el malalt dement en el procés d'informació de la seva malaltia? (Dementia and the principle of autonomy. A qualitative analysis of the process of diagnostic information in patients with dementia with the Health Corporation of the Maresme and La Selva: Should patients with dementia be included in the information process regarding their illness?).

This study takes as its starting point the perception of medical staff regarding patients with dementia. After diagnosis, both the opinions held towards patients and the relationship with them usually changes.  To identify whether this perception fits with the reality, the study seeks to identify whether or not doctors envisage a diagnostic information process with dementia patients, as is the case with other serious illnesses, or whether they exclusively address the patient's relatives. In addition, the research also considers the position of relatives and of some patients.

The final objective is to identify the level of autonomy granted to the patient during the process, and whether this is related to the patient's actual level of capacity or if this is assumed to be non-existent as a result of the diagnosis.
 

María Luisa Martínez

To the researchers María Luisa Martínez, Margarita García and Valentín Navarro of the Catalan Oncology Institute, Hospital Duran i Reynals in Barcelona for the study: Donació de mostres de teixit per investigació: percepcions i disponibilitat entre malalts oncològics (Donation of samples of tissue for research: perceptions and availability among oncology patients).

Knowledge of cancer is growing exponentially due to knowledge of the human genome and the advantages which technological progress offers to science. This scientific development depends on the availability of human tumour samples and other tissue samples. Obtaining these has become a priority.

The study aims to explore the perception and availability of cancer patients with regard to the donation of samples for research and storage. As secondary goals, it also seeks to identify the perceptions of cancer patients regarding research with human samples, to identify factors associated with availability for donation, and to draw up and validate the questionnaire for evaluation of the study variables.

Asaf Grauer Rodoy

To Asaf Grauer Rodoy of the Department of Criminal Law at the Universidad de Valencia for the study Problemes jurídics dels biobancs (Legal problems of biobanks).

As a result of the recent introduction of Act 14/2007, the Spanish legal system has recognised the bio-bank phenomenon for the first time. However, the existing legislation is a long way from resolving all the doubts which have arisen in practice. 

The project aims to conduct a thorough study which provides a satisfactory explanation of the legal reality and of the uses of bio-banks in modern society.  To achieve this, it will analyse a range of issues which the legislation has avoided but which are essential for the legal regulation of biobanks.

Pablo Hernando

The team directed by Pablo Hernando of the Parc Taulí Health Corporation of Sabadell for the study Validación de la escala MacCAT-T: herramienta para evaluar la capacidad en la toma de decisiones sanitarias (Validation of the MacCAT-T scale: a tool for assessing competence to take health decisions).

The main objective of this project is to validate, adapt and translate the MacCAT-T into Spanish. The MacCAT-T is a tool which examines the ability of individuals to understand, reason, appreciate and express a choice in order to consent to medical treatment. In the United States, this tool is used as a reference in legal contexts, but in Spain we still lack capacity assessment protocols, of which a tool like the MacCAT is an essential part.

In addition to adapting the MacCAT-T, the study will observe its correlation with the CME (Cognitive Mini-Exam), analyse the results of the MacCAT in four patient groups, and assess how easy it is to use.

2007

Miguel Moreno Muñoz

To Miguel Moreno Muñoz of the Department of Philosophy at the Universidad de Granada for the project Convergencia de tecnologías con fines de mejora humana: aspectos éticos y sociales (Convergence of human improvement technologies: ethical and social aspects).

Asunción Esteve

To Asunción Esteve of the Centre for Innovation Law & Policy at the University of Toronto for the study Patentes sobre los resultados de la investigación con células madre. (Patents based on the results of stem cell research).

Juan Carlos Siurana

To the research team headed by Juan Carlos Siurana of the Department of Legal Philosophy at the University of Valencia for the project: Problemas éticos en la comunicación con los pacientes inmigrantes infecciosos de larga duración y con tratamientos paliativos en el Hospital Doctor Moliner de Portacoeli, Valencia (Ethical problems in communicating with immigrant patients with long-term infectious diseases and palliative care at the Doctor Moliner Hospital of Porta Coeli, Valencia).

2006

Glòria Miró Andreu

To Glòria Miró Andreu, of the Mataró Hospital of the Maresme Health Consortium for the study: Factores asociados al conocimiento y realización de documentos de voluntades anticipadas en enfermos con patología neurodegenerativa (Factors associated with awareness of and drawing up living will documents in patients with neurodegenerative pathology).

Montse Esquerda i Aresté

To the research team headed by Montse Esquerda i Aresté of the Universitat de Lleida for the project: Escala de competència del menor de Lleida (Lleida minor's competency scale).

To María Jesús Gómez Ramos and María del Carmen Sánchez Álvarez of the Hospital General Reina Sofía in Murcia for the study: Escala pronóstica de la negación del ingreso en UCI como forma de LET (EPNIL)(Prognostic scale for refusing admission to ICU as a form of LET (EPNIL)).

Marcel Cano Soler

To Marcel Cano Soler, of the Department of Theoretical and Practical Philosophy of the Faculty of Philosophy at the Universitat de Barcelona for the work: El paper de les biotecnologies en la construcció del consens social (The role of biotechnology in constructing social consensus).

2005

To Antonio Casado da Rocha of the Department of the Philosophy of Values and Social Anthropology at the Universidad del País Vasco for the study Aproximación filosófica a la enfermedad de Huntington: diseño de un marco ético para investigaciones en genética molecular (A philosophical approach to Huntington's disease: designing an ethical framework for research in molecular genetics).

2004

Jordi Vallverdú

To Jordi Vallverdú, Professor of Philosophy at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona for his project: e-Biotecnología: simbiosis de valores. (e-Biotechnology: symbiosis of values).

Vallverdú, J. Bioética computacional: [e-biotecnología : simbiosis de valores]. Editorial: Fondo de Cultura Económica de España, S.L. 220 p. ISBN 9788437506234

 

Tomeu Adrover

To the researchers Tomeu Adrover, José Luís Luján, Gemma Revuelta and David de Semir from the University Illes Balears and the Observatory of Scientific Communication for their project: Cèl·lules mare, la petjada mediàtica. La comunicació social i la generació de debat sobre les cèl·lules troncals a la premsa espanyola. (Stem cells, the footprint left in the media. Social communication and the debate generated by stem cells in the Spanish press).

Lidia Casanueva

To the researchers Lidia Casanueva, Pedro Ruiz, Juan Ignacio Sánchez and José Carlos Mingote from the Intesive Care Unit at the Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid for their project: Impacto de un programa de mejora en la atención a los niños y sus familias en el proceso de morir en una Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos Pediátricos. (The impact of a project to improve care for children and their families up until the end of life in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit).

2003

To the researchers Salvador Quintana, Roser Font, Imma Sandalinas and Margarida Mañas from the Ethics Assistance Committee, Hospital Mutua in Terrassa, for their project: Elaboració i instauració de la Guia per al correcte ús de les Ordres No Reanimació en un centre d'aguts i la seva posterior avaluació (Creation and introduction of a guide for the correct use of ‘Do Not Resuscitate Orders' in a critical care center and subsequent evaluation).

To the researchers María Pilar Loncán, Joan Carles Rovira and Olga Sabartés from the Foundation Residence Sta. Susanna, Caldes de Montbui, the Foundation Hospital Sant Jaume de Manlleu and the Social Health Foundation in Manresa, for their project: Promoció de la presa de decisions de la gent gran en relació a la seva salut (Promoting decision-making among the elderly regarding their health).

To María Angeles Rubio Gil of the Juridical and Social Sciences Department at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, for her project: Responsabilidad ética en la información en materia contraceptiva en España: teoría y práctica social (Ethical responsibility in informing about contraceptive material in Spain: social theory and practice).

2002

Oriol Mir

To Oriol Mir, Professor in the Department of Administrative and Procedural Law of the Universitat de Barcelona, for the project: Productes transgènics: riscos jurídicament controlats? (Genetically modified products: legally controlled risks?).

María Julia Bertomeu

To the researchers María Julia Bertomeu, María Graciela de Ortúzar and Susana Sommer, of the Center for Philosophical Research at the Universidad Nacional de la Plata in Argentina, for the project: Justicia en salud: genética y derechos reproductivos (Justice in health: genetics and reproductive rights).

Juan María Sánchez Segura

To Juan María Sánchez Segura, principal researcher of the welfare team of the Intensive Care Service of the Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital of Barcelona for the project: Coneixement de la llei de voluntats anticipades pels malalts i familiars atesos en un servei de medicina intensiva a l'any i mig de la seva publicació (Knowledge of the law of living wills among patients and relatives attended by the intensive care service one-and-a-half years after introduction of the law).

2001

To the researchers Ana Sánchez Urrutia, Mónica Navarro, Andrés Navarro and Ana Sanz of the Bioethics and Law Observatory of the Parc Científic at the University of Barcelona for the project: Estudio de la tarjeta sanitaria. Incidencia sobre el derecho a la intimidad de las personas y la protección de los datos personales (Study of the Spanish health card. Its effect on the individual's right to privacy and the protection of personal information).

To José Javier Barbero, Psychologist with the Area 7 Home Care Support Team of the Spanish health service in Madrid for his project: Influencia de un Curso de Formación en Bioética en la detección y categorización de problemas éticos en un Equipo de Soporte de Antención Domiciliaria que atiende a enfermos terminales y a sus familias con una filosofía y una metodología de Cuidados Paliativos (The effect of a bioethics training course on the detection and classification of ethical problems in a support team providing home care for terminal patients and their families, using a philosophy and methodology of palliative care).

To the researchers Pilar Hereu and Inmaculada Fuentes of the Clinical Pharmacology Service at the Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron de Barcelona for their work: Obtenció del consentiment informat en assaigs clínics: procés d'obtenció, comprensió i percepcions dels pacients (Obtaining informed consent in clinical trials: the process of obtaining consent, and patients' understanding and perception of informed consent).

2000

Salvador Quintana

To the researchers Salvador Quintana and Roser Font of the Clinical Ethics Committee at the Hospital Mútua in Terrassa, Barcelona for their project Mesures de restricció física: estudi de prevalença i anàlisi d'aspectes ètics relacionats amb la seva indicació (Physical restraint measures: a study of its prevalence and an analysis of ethical aspects of its use).

Anna Falcó

To the researchers Anna Falcó, Joaquín Tomás, Ferran Rega and Isabel Pera, from the Escola d'Infermeria Gimbernat of Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona for their work: Estudi sobre la influència de la metodologia docent de les assignatures d'Ètica i Legislació en Infermeria i de Bioètica, en els estudiants de la Diplomatura Universitària en Infermeria, en relació a la integració dels valors propis de la professió infermera (Study into the influence of teaching methodology of Nursing Ethics and Legislation and of Bioethics on the students of the University Nursing Diploma, with regard to the acquisition of the personal values of the nursing profession).

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