Moral responsibility in changing the mind and bioethics education

Fumi Maekawa and Darryl R.J. Macer

Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Tsukuba,

Tsukuba Science City, 305-8572, Japan

Questions in Bioethics Education

•Do we know if bioethics education actually helps people resolve bioethics dilemmas?

•Does knowing more sides of an issue help us resolve the practical dilemmas when we face them?

Analysis from “Life and Culture”

• Open mainly to first year undergraduate students

• Students majoring in different fields including:– Biology– Humanities– Physics– Geology– Social engineering– International relations– Physical education– Agriculture

Analysis Method• Short survey on bioethics and prenatal

testing before and after lectures

• Class attendance sheet (keywords, comments)

• Extended report on prenatal testing

Attendance of students

Lecture 1 Lecture 2 Lecture 3

Class attendance sheet (N) 48 47 49

Survey forms (N) 48 - 28

Reports (N) - - 35

Analysis of Survey

• Conducted on the 28 students who have handed in both the pre and post lecture surveys

• Response in either Japanese or English, though only 3 or 4 students answered the survey in English

Results of the pre and post lecture surveys

• Focused on how the attitude changed before and after the lectures

• Keywords and ideas were investigated to see whether any new ideas appeared or greater diversity developed

What comes to mind when you think about bioethics?

• Cloning 32%

• Genetic modification 21%

• Brain death and organ transplantation 14%

• Don’t know 7%

• No answer 4%

Science makes an important contribution to the quality of life

• Strongly agree 48% → 48%

• Agree 52% → 44%

• Neither 0% → 7%

Within the 10 changes of attitude, 6 became more negative and 4 became more positive. Overall, the change was to a negative attitude.

Most problems can be solved by applying more and better technology

• Strongly agree 7% → 7%

• Agree 26% → 26%

• Neither 52% → 44%

• Disagree 15% → 15%

• Strongly disagree 0% → 7%

12 changes of attitude, 5 became slightly negative, and 3 became pretty negative Overall, the change was to a negative attitude

Genetically modified plants and animals will help agriculture become less

dependent on chemical pesticides

• Strongly agree 19% → 19%

• Agree 52% → 44%

• Neither 22% → 26%

• Disagree 4% → 0%

• Strongly disagree 4% → 4%

14 attitude changes, and 7 became slightly positive. Overall, the change was to a positive attitude

A woman can abort a 4month old fetus

• Strongly agreed 11% → 4%

• Agreed 22% → 26%

• Neither 41% → 37%

• Disagree 26% → 26%

• Strongly disagree 0% → 7%

13 attitude changes, 7 were slightly negative, and the overall change was to a negative shift

A woman can abort a 4 month old fetus that has congenital

abnormalities • Strongly agree 11% → 4%

• Agreed 15% → 22%

• Neither 48% → 37%

• Disagree 22% → 37%

• Strongly disagreed 4% → 0%

12 changes, 5 were both for slightly positive and slightly negative

A married couple can use a surrogate mother and IVF if they cannot get

pregnant themselves

•Strongly agreed 26% → 19%

•Agreed 48% → 56%

•Neither 22% → 26%

•Disagreed 4% →0%

10 changes, 5 were slightly positive and 4 were slightly negative

Animals have rights that people should not violate

• Strongly agreed 44% → 37%

• Agreed 41% → 44%

• Neither 7% → 19%

• Disagreed 7% →0%

7 changes, 4 shifted slightly positive. In the post-lecture survey, nobody disagreed nor strongly disagreed

Overall do you think science and technology do more harm than good, more good than harm, or about the

same of each

• More harm 7% → 7%

• More good 48% → 26%

• About the same 41% → 56%

• Don’t know 4% → 11%

Some genetic diseases can be predicted in the fetus during the early stages of pregnancy. Do you think such tests should be available under

government-funded Medicare? Why?

• Yes 41% → 41%

• No 26% → 33%

• Don’t know 33% → 26%

The majority of Japanese accept prenatal diagnosis should be under national health insuranceSome genetic diseases can be predicted in the fetus during the early stages of pregnancy. Do you think such tests should be available under government-funded health insurance? Why?Yes No Don’t know (Surveys by Macer et al.)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1991 1993 1995 2003 Class

YesNoDK

Would you want such a test during your/your spouse’s pregnancy?

• Yes 26% → 26%

• No 30% → 22%

• Don’t know 44% → 52%

At present 41% of Japanese say they would use prenatal diagnosis themselves.Would you want such a test during (your/your spouse's) pregnancy? Why?Yes No Don’t know (Surveys by Macer et al.)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

1991 1993 1995 2003 Class

YesNoDK

Analysis of comment slips

• As the lecture advanced, the keywords that the students wrote became more diverse

• On this first lecture’s comment slip were that of those highlighted in the handout or printed in bold

Summary 1

• Most of the students continued to support the usefulness of technology

• When directly asked, “more good” shifted to “about the same”

• More diversity seen in abortion and reproductive technology issues

Summary 2

• For the prenatal diagnosis issue, the percentage of students who agreed with government funding and those who would use such tests remained the same.

• Some of uncertain portion in the government funding of prenatal diagnosis changed their ideas to No, where as more had uncertainty when asked about their own decision.

Bioethical maturity

Bioethically mature means a person, or a society that can balance the benefits and risks of alternative options, and make well-considered decisions, and talk about it.