Document is current

Article History

Received: 25 February 2021

Accepted: 18 May 2021

First Online: 19 July 2021

Declarations

:

: All study protocol and materials, including consent information, were approved by The University of Southern Mississippi Institutional Review Board. The USM IRB complies with federal regulations, including Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects and operates under a Federalwide Assurance (FWA) on file with the Office for Human Research Protection (OHRP, Registration number: FWA00002393) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Human subjects research conducted at or supported by the University honors the three ethical principles enshrined in the “Belmont Report”: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. These general principles require that human research subjects, a) will not participate in research unless and until they have given voluntary and informed consent, b) persons under the age of 18, legal incompetents, and those unable to consent may participate in research only with consent from a parent or legal guardian and, when possible, their assent, c) confidential information received from participants will be fully protected within the limits of the law, both during and after research is conducted, d) subjects may withdraw their participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which they would otherwise be entitled, e) burdens put on research participants must be reasonable relative to anticipated benefits to themselves and to society as a whole, f) the selection of research participants must be equitable and defensible in terms of both the goals of the research and general considerations of fairness.

: Not applicable.

: Authors report no competing interests.