Hi all, I'm hoping some of you with experience of ethics committee deliberations and ethical issues relating to professional services online might be able to help me here. I am leading a research project into online clinical supervision for a variety of health professionals - nurses, psychotherapists, counsellors and probation officers among others. In the procedures whereby would-be online supervisors register their professional details (many but not all of which appear on a public profile, available to prospective supervisees), the html/asp form we have put together currently asks for details such as their Registration Number, Name of Registration Body and Full Address of Registration Body. Myself and other members of the research team, in preparing a proposal for ethics committee approval, are anxious that simply asking registrants to provide such details might not be felt sufficient, and that we may need to vet applicants more thoroughly - eg rather than simply ensuring the information has been submitted, we may need to contact the registration body to check would-be supervisors are registered, and may also need to have physical sight of some documentary evidence (eg a recent utility bill or credit card statement) to authenticate that the registrant is the person whose details have been submitted. Of course, this is not just about ethics committee approval, but clinical governance - the ethics committee proposal submission has simply crystalised our own anxieties about ensuring that those providing online supervision associated with our research are bone fide. Any advice or experience you are willing to share regarding appropriate rigour in vetting procedures for the provision of professional services online would be much appreciated. Cheers, Ben