Challenger Research Journal

Clinical trials are crucial in developing safe medical treatments and combating diseases. However, the ethical considerations surrounding research involving human subjects have been an ongoing topic of debate. Existing ethical policies aim to ensure the accuracy of research findings and protect the well-being of participants. Nevertheless, these policies have been rooted in Western scientific and medical systems, which historically exploited communities for the benefit of privileged individuals and capital accumulation, perpetuating domination and settler colonialism. While ethical policies alone cannot erase these harmful legacies, they have globally failed at holding researchers, companies, and institutions accountable for their impact on communities. This failure has led to exploitation and unintended harm in disenfranchised communities with under-resourced health systems and limited access to healthcare resources. To address these challenges, this literature review proposes integrating stricter regulations, transparent disclosure of trial results, and comprehensive post-trial care. Additionally, it advocates for including community partnerships in clinical trial ethics policies to prioritize community needs and promote accountability. By examining qualitative studies on the perspectives of patients, researchers, and clinicians involved in clinical trials, as well as the current state of clinical trial ethics policies, this paper suggests a partnership-based approach that can facilitate the development of new treatments while addressing historical legacies of exploitation and harm in disenfranchised communities worldwide.

This research investigates the perpetuation of domestic violence (DV) in China by analyzing how social norms and institutional practices collectively contribute to the challenges faced by individuals experiencing DV. Despite the implementation of China's Anti-Domestic Violence Law in 2016, its effectiveness in protecting DV survivors' rights has been subject to scrutiny among researchers. This research aims to understand whether law enforcement and judicial responses post-legislation effectively align with policy objectives to mitigate DV issues. It hypothesizes a dissonance between the DV legislation and social norms emphasizing family and social harmony and non-interference in family affairs. Focusing on specific DV cases and incorporating the meta-analysis of secondary empirical data, archived governmental reports, periodicals, interviews, Confucian writings, and prior scholarly insights, this study examines how social norms and institutional practices in governmental agencies impact the framing and responses to DV cases. Findings suggest that entrenched social and gender norms shaped by Confucianism and traditional Chinese cultural values legitimize and reinforce institutional norms regarding how police and judges should downplay DV cases, leading to indifference and ineffective DV interventions. This research highlights the importance of adopting a social norms approach to effectively address this problem and the need for a transformative shift in social attitudes toward DV. It contributes to a nuanced understanding of DV and policy implementation in China, potentially serving as a significant step towards devising practical strategies to improve the protection of DV survivors at the local level.

This research focuses on and serves as the foundation for the creation of a theatrical world, supporting the play’s structural narrative to raise awareness of a historical event and to spotlight historically silenced and suppressed voices of color. The gasoline baths occurred at the El Paso, Texas border in 1917 when Mexicans were inhumanely disinfected with toxic chemicals as they sought entrance into the U.S. as a result of discriminatory beliefs and practices. Primary research will include published articles and books, focusing on the event that will serve as source material for the play developmental process. Secondary research efforts will include U.S. immigration policies of the time as well as identifying key historical figures. Carmelita Torres, a central figure in the event, will serve as the main protagonist and voice of the play. The narrative will showcase her advocacy for her community as well as demonstrate the gender bias role of women. Ultimately, this play intends to serve as a catalyst for change, creating a space for conversation, empathy, and transformation to awaken an audience towards moral and social action.

This paper evaluates the potential for mutual aid to serve as a framework for a new way of life through a biopsychosocial theoretical lens and a literature review. This paper works to help better understand how we, as a society in the United States can reimagine what a world would look like if we used mutual aid as a framework for a way of life through a public health perspective. The study draws on examples from Blue Zones and community health interventions using mutual aid in Japan, Cameroon, Latin American populations, and other communities of the world to illustrate how mutual aid can be implemented on both micro and macro levels from local community cultures to broad nation-wide policies in the US. The findings suggest that mutual aid can be utilized as a model for other facets of life and society as a whole. By encouraging people to work together and support each other, mutual aid can create more resilient and cohesive communities. These findings have important implications for public health and can help inform future research and policy interventions aimed at promoting community-building through mutual aid.

Readiness, often defined as the level at which students meet the qualifications to succeed in college and career, has long been a metric of the success of K-12 education in preparing students for post-secondary lives. In Oakland, California, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) has highlighted their top priority as “All students graduate college, career, and community ready.”, implementing different goals and actions throughout the years to achieve this priority. However, what does it mean to be ready for college, career, and community? How does the district measure readiness and support initiatives targeted at increasing student readiness? The aim of this study is to understand how school districts, focusing on OUSD, back up their goals of preparing students for the real world. Through a critical approach, this in-depth case study seeks to shed light on how metrics of readiness are understood and used by districts in supporting students. The implications of this study aims to problematize contemporary definitions of readiness, highlighting the ways school districts can improve standards and practices as it relates to college and career readiness to better serve its students. The findings indicate that there must be more transparency on the data behind how and why goals lead to readiness, and how specific actions align with the success of such goals. Better data practices can ensure that proposed actions to meet stated goals are met, as school districts place emphasis on readiness through meeting state standards, rather than preparing students for their post-secondary lives and beyond.