Which aspect of clinical trials is heavily impacted by informed consent?

Informed consent is fundamentally about respecting and promoting the autonomy of participants in clinical trials. It is the process through which potential participants are given comprehensive information about the study, including its purpose, procedures, risks, benefits, and their rights, allowing them to make informed decisions about their involvement. By ensuring that participants understand what they are agreeing to, informed consent empowers individuals to exercise their right to make choices about their own health and participation. This emphasizes the ethical principle of autonomy, which is a cornerstone of conducting research responsibly and ethically.

While other aspects of clinical trials such as effectiveness, participant pool size, and costs are important, they are not directly influenced by the process of informed consent in the same way that autonomy is. Informed consent primarily serves to uphold the rights and independence of participants, making it a critical element of ethical clinical research.