• The scarcity of criminal court cases on FGM aligns with research indicating that migration often leads to abandoning the practice.
• The prevailing public discourse around FGM paves the way for epistemic injustice.
• An analysis of Swedish FGM prosecutions reveals a risk that stereotypes based on ethnicity and religion may influence court decisions.
• The legal handling of suspected cases must be conducted in accordance with the rule of law.

Research topic/aim

Students’ degree project could if involving research on people, risk infringing on individual´s privacy, processing sensitivepersonal data and encompassing difficult ethical issues, not least regarding informed consent. If these projects would havebeen performed by researchers, the projects would have required prior approval by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority inaccordance with the Swedish Act (2003:460) concerning the ethical review of research involving humans. However, since theprojects are performed by students, who are not obliged to undergo this review, it is unclear how an ethically acceptableapproach is to be guaranteed. It is well known that such student projects are carried out, but the extent to which this happens has not previously been investigated, neither in Sweden nor in other countries. We thereby present our experiences of a formalized ethical review process at a Higher Institution site in Sweden.

Theoretical framework

Establishing such formalized ethical review can lead to a greater consensus on which materials and methods are suitable forthe students, which in turn leads to increased equal treatment. Also serve as a pedagogical support resource for supervisors, who may experience ambiguities regarding research ethics issues and student projects. By gathering and building up ethics expertise at the university, a specialised support function is also developed that can offer advice and guidance, perspectives, and training. Through interaction and cooperation, the support function can contribute to an active learning environment, where students and supervisors are stimulated to reflect on their own decision-making (Fosnot, 2005). Experimental and experiential learning emphasizes that didactics is best achieved through active participation where participants deal with realproblems (Kolb, 1984). Ethically reflective learning specifically emphasizes the development of the student's ability to reflecton their own values, ethical dilemmas, and decision-making on ethical issues (Gill & Thomson, 2020). Common to these theories is the perspective that a formalized assessment offers students and teachers the opportunity to exchangeperspectives and to deal with ethical issues in a more concrete way.

Methodological design

Essays that have passed examination during the years 2014-2017 were included. A total of 1215 essays were read through,and the presence of ethically sensitive content was coded in a pre-established protocol.Expected conclusions/findings Out of a total of 1215 reviewed essays, 277 (22.8%) contained ethically sensitive content; the most common was sensitivepersonal data relating to health 165 (13.6%). In accordance, one in five undergraduate students completed studies that would have required the approval of the Ethical Review Authority, had they been researchers. Ethically sensitive content was proportionally more common in essays at the advanced level (32.9%) than at the first level (20.4%). Only 191 of the 277 essays (68.9%) that should have undergone a formalized ethical review process did so. The implementation of formalized ethical review of thesis projects seems to work best when the student's supervisor has their own experience of ethical review. Different institutional/disciplinary cultures also seem to have a large impact.

Relevance to Nordic educational research

The implementation of ethically acceptable approaches in student projects is an under-researched area, nationally andinternationally. The relevance is thereby urged. 

Hur vanligt är det att studenter bedriver projekt som inbegriper etiskt känsligt innehåll? I denna artikel redogörs för en undersökning rörande ett högskolepedagogiskt utvecklingsarbete som avser formaliserad etikprövning av studentuppsatser. Undersökningen inbegriper uppsatser som examinerats och godkänts vid fakulteten för hälsa och samhälle vid Malmö universitet under åren 2014–2017. Med etiskt känsligt innehåll avses här känsliga personuppgifter samt intervenerande metoder, som vid forskning kräver etikprövning enligt lag (2003:460) om etikprövning av forskning som avser människor. Av totalt 1215 granskade uppsatser hade 277 (22,8 %) etiskt känsligt innehåll; vanligast var känsliga personuppgifter avseende hälsa. 165 (13.6 %) uppsatser innehöll sådana uppgifter. Etiskt känsligt innehåll var mer vanligt förekommande i uppsatser på avancerad nivå (32,9 %) än på grundnivå (20,4 %). Var femte student på grundnivå genomförde alltså studier som skulle ha krävt Etikprövningsmyndighetens godkännande om de hade varit forskare.

Enligt fakultetens riktlinjer ska samtliga studentarbeten med ett innehåll som skulle ha krävt förhandsprövning vid forskning förhandsprövas av fakultetens etikråd för studentarbeten. Men endast 191 av de 277 uppsatser (68,9%) som borde ha genomgått sådan handläggning passerade etikrådet. Implementeringen av formaliserad etikprövning av uppsatsprojekt tycks fungera bäst då studentens handledare är forskarutbildad och kan antas ha egen erfarenhet av etikprövning. Vår undersökning visade också att etikprövningen implementerats i olika grad vid olika institutioner. I artikeln diskuteras möjliga förklaringar till denna skillnad.

Ethical Review of Student Projects: The Responsibility of Higher Education Institutions

How common is it for students to undertake projects involving ethically sensitive content? This article presents a study on higher education pedagogical development project concerning the formalized ethical review of student essays. The survey included essays that were examined and approved at the Faculty of Health and Society, Malmö university during 2014–2017. Ethically sensitive content refers here to sensitive personal data and intervention methods that, in research, require ethical review according to the Act (2003:460) on ethical review of research involving humans. Out of a total of 1215 examined thesis, 277 (22.8%) contained ethically sensitive content; the most common being personal health-related data. 165 (13.6%) essays contained such information. Advanced level theses had a higher prevalence of ethically sensitive content (32.9%) compared to undergraduate theses (20.4%). This indicates that a significant proportion of undergraduate students undertook projects involving content that would require ethical review if they were researchers.

The faculty’s guidelines stipulate that all student works containing content requiring prior ethical review in research, should be reviewed by the faculty’s ethics council. However, only 68.9% of the essays that necessitated such review passed the ethics council, indicating a gap in compliance with ethical review processes. The study suggests that the effectiveness of formalized ethical review of thesis projects is enhanced when the student’s supervisor holds a doctoral degree, likely due to their familiarity and experience with ethical review procedures. Furthermore, the research highlights variations in the implementation of ethical review across different departments within the faculty. The article delves into possible reasons for these discrepancies.

Background: Home oxygen therapy (HOT) improves survival in patients with hypoxaemic chronic respiratory disease. Most patients evaluated for HOT are former or active smokers. Oxygen accelerates combustion and smoking may increase the risk of burn injuries and fire hazards; therefore, it is considered a contraindication for HOT in many countries. However, there is variability in the practices and policies regarding this matter. This multidisciplinary Swedish taskforce aimed to review the potential benefits and risks of smoking in relation to HOT, including medical, practical, legal and ethical considerations.

Methods: The taskforce of the Swedish Respiratory Society comprises 15 members across respiratory medicine, nursing, medical law and ethics. HOT effectiveness and adverse risks related to smoking, as well as practical, legal and ethical considerations, were reviewed, resulting in five general questions and four PICO (population–intervention–comparator–outcome) questions. The strength of each recommendation was rated according to the GRADE (grading of recommendation assessment, development and evaluation) methodology.

Results: General questions about the practical, legal and ethical aspects of HOT were discussed and summarised in the document. The PICO questions resulted in recommendations about assessment, management and follow-up of smoking when considering HOT, if HOT should be offered to people that meet the eligibility criteria but who continue to smoke, if a specific length of time of smoking cessation should be considered before assessing eligibility for HOT, and identification of areas for further research.

Conclusions: Multiple factors need to be considered in the benefit/risk evaluation of HOT in active smokers. A systematic approach is suggested to guide healthcare professionals in evaluating HOT in relation to smoking.

In this chapter, we discuss how cultural expertise can be used to neutralize stereotyped images of minority cultures in court in female genital mutilation/cutting–related cases because, wisely employed, it may counteract possible negative effects of typification and judicial stereotyping.

The principle of proportionality is used in order to reach a resolution of conflicts between a right on the one hand a and a competing right or interest on the other. The core of the principle is the balancing act between these conflicting rights and interests. I will discuss how the balancing act may be used to benefit the Swedish authorities’ handling of suspected cases of female genital mutilation. Investigation of suspected cases may entail involuntary genital examinations and other interventions that infringes upon the right to privacy and family life. How much state invasion of privacy of individuals, is proportionate to the interest of checking for an inadmissible practice? How may officials balance between conflicting laws when they handle cases of suspected female genital mutilation?

In later decades, the principle of proportionality has gained increased critic, e. g. for its assumed moral neutrality, posing as a pure technical way of perform a cost benefit analysis. The principle doesn’t purport to struggle with moral issues. At the same time, it is obvious that the principle itself rests upon assumptions regarding what is good in a society. In Sweden, as well as in many other countries in western Europe, there is a strong perception that female genital mutilation is a severe social problem. The perception remains although it has been refuted in research. How do public ideas about the scope of the problem in Sweden, as in other western countries, affect the choices made when handling specific cases regarding suspected female genital mutilation? Is it even possible to reach a fair and proportionate balance?