ETHICAL AND LEGAL RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH ARCHIVAL RESEARCH

Mental health facilities and practitioners commonly permit researchers to have direct access to patients' records for the purposes of archiv al research without the informed consent of patient-participants. Typi cally these researchers have access to all information in such records as long as they agree to maintain confidentiality and remove any iden tifying data from subsequent research reports. Changes in the American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles (American Psychologica l Association, 1992) raise ethical and legal issues that require consi deration by practitioners, researchers, and facility Institutional Rev iew Boards. This article addresses these issues and provides recommend ations for changes in ethical standards as well as alternative avenues for conducting research using archival mental health records.