Is there a duty to participate in a health research? A viewpoint of children 6–8 years of age and their parents

It has been discussed in recent years whether participants should have a duty to participate in health research. Despite these theoretical discussions, there is little empirical evidence about study participants' perceptions of duties. We studied children's and their parents' sense of duty regarding participation in The Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) Study. In addition, we evaluated whether the sense of duty was related to the long-term participation in the study. The original study group of PANIC Study consisted of 512 children aged 6–8 years. Complete data of this sub-study were available for 312 children and their parents. Data on long-term participation were evaluated after 24 months. Analysis protocol was exploratory. The data show that 30% of parents felt a duty to participate in the study. However, only a minority of children (11%) felt the same. Parents' sense of duty in the early stages of the study improved long-term commitment to ongoing research. Thus, we can state that study participants have a sense of duty to participate although we cannot impose a duty to take part in any research.