Children were examined following approval by the Institutional Review Board for research on human subjects of the Israel Ministry of Health, and following attainment of informed consent from all parents.
The complexity of concept attainment.
It has been reported that the desire for patient autonomy and readiness to seek consent is directly related to educational attainment of the patient [ 8, 11, 14].
This study attempts to discover the general attitude of the population (from where patients are derived) to the practice of informed consent and the relationship to educational attainment.
The study showed that knowledge of the informed consent practice increased with level of educational attainment but most of the participants irrespective of educational status would want to be involved in decisions about their healthcare.
In relation to children it offers the following guidance "Genetic tests in respect of children when, according to applicable law, that child does not have capacity to consent should normally be deferred until the attainment of such capacity, unless other factors indicate that testing during childhood is clinically indicated.
Therefore, we followed-up 33 children of consecutive, consenting caregivers over 1 year (June 2011 to June 2012), and assessed the attainment of set objectives at the 6th month and 12th month.
Therefore, informed consent policy should be conscientiously upheld irrespective of one's educational attainment.
The effect of age on consent to therapy was inconsistent, and there was no significant effect of educational attainment.
Those who consented were more likely to be younger, in higher socioeconomic positions, have higher educational attainment, and be of white ethnic background.
The proportion of the participants who would prefer to give consent to the doctor who will carry out the procedure increases with the level of educational attainment.
