Abstract:
Background: Research in educational centers is a frequent source of social and health related
studies. Objective: To determine the knowledge and adherence to the current legal and ethical
regulations to research performed on children at educational institutions.
Methodology: Cross-sectional study online survey-type. The level of knowledge and adherence to
the ethical regulation and legislation in Chile, to conduct research with minors was consulted.
Results: 126 educational institutions responded the survey; 69% belonged to urban centers; 60%
corresponded to those under the Municipality umbrella and 34% to charter schools. Research was
performed in 31,8% of the consulted institutions, 41% of the research was on health issues and
30,8% on education. The 27,5% answered that they had the approval of ethical-scientific committee,
82% answered that they neither received nor had any awareness of regulatory aspects on research.
Conclusion: There is low knowledge and adherence to ethical and legal regulation to research
performed with children in educational centers. A journey for dissemination of results was
performed and a flow chart was created by experts and proposed to the school directors to
contribute to the adherence of ethical and regulatory aspects of research in educational centers.
