Creating a Research Context for Reducing Risk and Obtaining Informed Consent in Human Alcohol Studies

Alcohol consumption by problem drinkers in research involves risks and raises ethical issues. Disease perspectives, however, exaggerate the level of risk and have questionable validity and generality. These accounts suggest that because problem drinkers cannot exert volitional control over drinking, alcohol studies undermine their capacity to give informed consent and entail unacceptable risks of promoting abusive drinking. Alcoholics' purported propensity for denial is also thought to compromise the assessment of risks. Contemporary theory and research question these assertions and help guide the creation of research contexts that reduce risk and promote informed consent. Key contextual elements are (a) the extent of availability of alcohol and other valued activities in participants' natural environments, which reduce the appeal of drinking in research contexts, and (b) whether contingencies exist for inaccurate verbal reports.