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Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the importance of trust in researchers and other reasons that participating parents, former participants, and non-participants had for participating, or not participating, in a longitudinal cohort study on prediction and development of diabetes in children. Study design: A questionnaire addressing each of these groups, where respondents graded the importance of a set of listed reasons for participating/not participating, was randomly distributed to 2500 families in the All Babies in Southeast Sweden (ABIS) study region with children born between 1997 and 1999. Results: Lack of trust was not a central factor to a great majority of respondents who decided not to participate in the ABIS study or who later decided to opt out. Practical matters, like blood sampling and lack of time, were important factors to many more. Yet, four fifths of those who still participate in the ABIS study stated trust in the researchers to be an important factor to their initial decision to participate. Conclusions: Trust in researchers may be a necessary prerequisite in order for people to be willing to participate in research, but practical matters such as time that has to be spent or pain involved in collecting blood were more important factors than lack of trust in explaining opt out in relation to the ABIS study.

Since the 1970s, estrogen have sometimes been used in adolescent girls to reduce very tall adult expected height.Worries about long-term effects have led to a proposal to link treatment data with cancer registers. How shouldone deal with informed consent for such a study?We designed a qualitative study with semi-structured telephoneinterviews. From 1200 women who were to be followed-up in cancer registers, we randomly selected 22 women.Major themes were a wish to be involved and a positive attitude to the proposed register research. The womendid not express worry after reading the study protocol, but did convey considerable frustration that this researchhad not been initiated earlier. Active consent was not seen as crucial. We found strong interest in a high participationrate and a concern over missing data. The selection of information and consent or the decision to goahead without consent in register follow-up is a delicate balancing act. Study participants wish to be contacted,but acknowledge the primary goal of answering important questions. Our study provides support for safeguardingprivacy in epidemiological linkage studies and in follow-up of medical treatment without losing the scientificvalue by requesting for informed consent.

While specialists in gender studies often refer to religion they seldom have recourse to carefullyconceived definitions of it. The problem of definition is explored here in terms of its plurality ofexpressions and interpretation, internal tensions and change, and similarities and relations whichcross traditions which are often perceived as being separate and distinct. Myth and ritual are takento be of central importance, both being understood as gendered and bodily constituted. Theoreticalinspiration is drawn from Wittgenstein's understanding of meaning as being constituted contextuallyand bodily and thus inseparable from social life. In this persepctive, religious language is a more orless precise act whose meaning will differ depending on the context, agents and agendas involved.Specific arguments relating to meaning and action are also drawn from the work of M. Douglas andL. Bäckman, both of whom have deconstructed and discussed (post-)colonial conceptualizations ofculture. Their elaboration of potentiality and change has been of special interest. In sum, religion isregarded as (1)a dynamic and ambiguous field of meanings that is continuously created andconstituted through human interaction (2) always gendered (3)bodily expressed and constituted (4)composed of myth, ritual and time concepts (5) a cource of continuity as well as of change inpresent social interaction (6) transmitted and renewed through mytho-poets, and (7)subject toanalysis in terms of power, with reference to social interaction, socioeconomic conditions and thewider context.

There is an increased focus on, and evidence of, children's capability to both understand and make decisions about issues relating to participation in medical research. At the same time there are divergent ideas of when, how and to what extent children should be allowed to decide for themselves. Furthermore, little is known about parents' views on these matters, an important issue since they often provide the formal consent.

In this questionnaire study of 2500 families in south-east Sweden (with and without research experience) we explored parents' views on issues relating to information, consent and research data. We found that parents are generally positive about supplying their child with individual information (93.3%; median age 7) and assuring the child's consent/assent to participation (74.3%; median age 12).

However, parents' views vary regarding the extent to which children should influence research data: as many as 47–61% of our sample were opposed to children's rights to decide about the use and storage of biological samples and natural history data.

Parents who are opposed to child consent and a wider influence on their research participation argue that parental authority and research quality are two important factors opposing enhanced child influence. Drawing on this, we underline the need to discuss how to balance children's rights against parental autonomy and research interests before implementing any standardized protocols granting children the right to consent and revoke data in long-term research.