Category: Ethics

Ethics has been a learning process throughout this master’s because it was a project where I really needed to be careful about how I spoke on the subject, especially since it started as an eating disorder research project and meant I was speaking to a very vulnerable group of people. I wanted to create a comfortable environment for them, and make sure they felt comfortable enough to withdraw if they wanted to stop talking about the subject or didn’t want to answer a question. During our conversations, I made sure they were comfortable with me discussing the subject, answered any questions, and checked in to make sure they were okay. There were also a lot of people I was speaking to who weren’t comfortable telling me their name; they just went by their TikTok and Instagram handles, and they didn’t turn on their cameras, which I completely understood and respected, and I made that clear. I also thought it was important to be fully transparent and ask whether they felt comfortable with me taking notes and uploading them to my student blog, where my classmates, advisors, and program directors would see them. They all said yes. After we finished talking, I asked them again to make sure they had the chance to retract anything or say whether there was a specific part of the interview they wanted taken off the record, in journalistic terms. Whenever I saw something wrong with someone’s work, I made sure to write up a contract, make sure they understood it, and ensure they were aware of all the terms and could make changes wherever they found them necessary. For example, for anyone taking part in an online activity, I wrote down all the terms at the beginning so they knew what it would include. Since it was done in a Padlet format, they could see what participating would entail and opt out at any time, since their content is revocable if they don’t feel comfortable. I want to make sure that I am doing everything as ethically correct as possible. Still, I understand there may be gaps I don’t see, so if someone notices something, I want to know so I can make sure I am doing things as well as I can. When I met up with people I found on social media, a couple of them told me this was a very important part of the research and that, before participating, they wanted to make sure they were doing it as ethically as possible. I also found it very important to respect people’s decisions whenever they felt they did not want to participate or speak to me. I wanted to make sure people always felt safe, and I always thanked them for wandering, even if they weren’t interested in participating, which I thought was important and made people feel safer. 

I am approaching this research surrounding body image and eating disorders from an extreme position of privilege and difference because I consider myself a survivor of Bulimia Nervosa after suffering for 10 years, as well as disordered eating; however, I had the possibility of approaching treatment and help through doctors and psychologists as well as psychiatrists. I was never in a position where I had to think about how much getting help was going to cost me since I had the financial and emotional support of my family. I am of a straight size; as an ally, I am not a person who lives inside of a marginalized body, and I do not face discrimination around my body size in my everyday life. It is a struggle whenever I am talking about my family, but I have never felt unsafe because of the way my body looked. The access to help that I had is not common, and even though it was a struggle and I only approached the moment of getting actually specialized help earlier this year and continue to be in treatment, I was always able to get help through other means, which is very helpful, and it is not something that everyone in my circle has access to. 

Through my research, I am looking at my stakeholders as young women who have suffered through eating disorders as well as body image struggles and focused more on body image since eating disorders is such a sensitive topic. I never want to make people feel unsafe, and I want everything to be as ethical as possible. I am very upfront about what is happening and set the parameters, and I let everyone I talk to know that our conversation will be added to my student blog; I ask whether they are okay with that to make sure I am following all ethical parameters. I also understand that this is a taboo and hard subject for people in Colombia to speak about and hear about, so if at any moment they want to retract their statements, they are completely free to do so. I am a mix of different cultures, which is also a part of my position because, even though I was raised in Colombia and identify as Colombian, I also grew up between the States and Europe, which gives me a different outlook on the subject and makes it even more necessary for me to be extremely sensitive to the different people I am speaking with. 

I have only had one intervention about signing that they are okay with, but this is participation likeness when using. However, when I spoke to my experts and to different people I interviewed, specifically when I was filming or voice recording them, I made sure to ask them several times if this was something that they were okay with and if it was okay if the information that I had gotten and made into notes or the videos be shared with my professors and teachers, as well as with my classmates. They all agreed, and I have their verbal consent in my voice notes. This is also why when I have gotten the recommendation that maybe one of my interventions can be to make some of my blog posts open to the public I explained that I did not have permission to do this and did not ask for this type of consent and I have no way of reaching out to some of the people who participated since it was done in a very uncontrolled setting however they all agreed to participate and whenever a person was not comfortable I immediately moved on and left them alone because I never want to make people feel unsafe or disrespected however this was not something I felt was very common in my previous interventions but it might have been a good idea to get not just verbal consent from the people I interviewed and recorded even though I made sure they were okay with it and when we finished the meetings I asked them again and made sure this was something they were comfortable with but I should have had it more in writing which is a mistake I have made in this process but hope to be able to learn from it. 

While my time in the researching during our break I went to an appointment in this clinic called eatica which is an eating disorder clinic in Barcelona, Spain where I was able to learn different facets and what it looks like to be a patient in one of this clinics even though I am in an out patient program and if I am honest it was pretty scary to see this and come to terms with the fact that I myself needed help. They offer different types of services. I was shocked at my experience because I did not know what to expect and it was terrifying when I got there and I saw that girls were always watched and scheduled as well as the fact that they are not allowed to use the restroom without permission and there are no rooms with locks but latter on I realized how bad does it have to be for there to be such a drastic movement and for parents or adults to realize that they have to take this drastic move. I also kept asking myself the question where is the one one has to cross to be in their inpatient program and do people with eating disorder fully recover?