Correlates of willingness to participate in microbicide research among African Americans

Predictors of Participation in Clinical Research

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Background

Despite numerous efforts to create more equitable healthcare systems, minority populations face long-standing health disparities compared to White populations. Healthcare research is the necessary foundation for creating equitable health systems and providing patient-centered care. Significant challenges exist, however, with recruiting and engaging underrepresented populations in clinical research.

Objectives

The purpose of this analysis was to determine how research participants' race, trust, and level of education influence participation barriers in clinical research.

Methods

The study used secondary, cross-sectional survey data that were collected between 2014 and 2016 through the former Mid-South Clinical Data Research Network, currently known as the Stakeholders, Technology, and Research Clinical Research Network. Descriptive statistics and Spearman rank correlations were performed between level of education, level of trust, and each attitude statement for each racial category.

Results

A total of 2,190 survey responses were used in the data analysis. The mean age of respondents was 52 years, with majority being women, White, insured, and working full time. Overall, the respondents had favorable attitudes toward research participation. Trust was correlated with agreement in many attitude statements for both White and African American respondents, whereas correlations with education level were more variable depending on racial grouping. Trust level was negatively associated with agreement toward the statement “researchers do not care about me” in White and Native American respondents.

Discussion

The results support the importance of trust to research participation. Generally, education level was not strongly predictive of research participation, although prediction was influenced by race and attitude.

A systematic review of medical mistrust measures

OBJECTIVE

Medical mistrust is seen as a barrier to health promotion and addressing health disparities among marginalized populations. This study seeks to examine how medical mistrust has been measured as a step towards informing related health promotion efforts.

METHODS

A systematic review of medical mistrust scales was conducted using four major databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC, and Communication & Mass Media Complete. Databases were searched using the terms "medical mistrust scale" "medical mistrust" and "medical distrust."

RESULTS

The search returned 1595 non-duplicate citations; after inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, 185 articles were retained and coded. Almost a quarter of studies used a single-item or a few items. Among validated scales, the Group-Based Medical Mistrust Scale, Medical Mistrust Index, and Health Care System Distrust Scale were most frequently used. There were important differences among these scales such as the object of mistrust (e.g., system, individual physician) and referent specificity (e.g., group). The measurement of medical mistrust varied by health topic and sample population.

CONCLUSION

These differences in scales and measurement should be considered in the context of intervention goals.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Researchers should be aware of differences in measures and choose appropriate measures for a given research question or intervention.

African-American and Hispanic Perceptions of HIV Vaccine Clinical Research: A Qualitative Study

Purpose.

To examine perceptions of phase-I human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccine trial participation among African-Americans and Hispanics in San Francisco, California.

Design.

Qualitative, semistructured interviews.

Setting.

San Francisco Department of Health.

Participants.

Thirty-six African-American and Hispanic men and women, 18 to 50 years of age, residing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Method.

Purposive sampling using advertisements, community-based organization rosters, and snowball referrals. Thematic analysis of transcripts identified salient themes and patterns.

Results.

Participants viewed participation in HIV research as important; however, they held that HIV was not a health priority given limited awareness about HIV research or beliefs that only infected or high-risk persons were eligible for participation. Altruism and personal gain, trustworthy trial staff, convenient schedules and facilities, and involvement of trusted community groups in recruitment were perceived to motivate participants. Concerns about the social consequences of participating in HIV research and product-related side effects were seen as discouraging participation. Limitations include the possibility that participants in interview research have more favorable views of biomedical research than those who refuse to participate.

Conclusion.

Historically, African-Americans and Hispanics in the United States have had limited participation in HIV trials. Understanding their perceptions of HIV biomedical research, identifying facilitators and barriers to participation, addressing misinformation about HIV, distorted risk perceptions, HIV stigma, and providing accessible opportunities to participate are imperative to ensure health equity and generalizability of findings.

Characteristics of female sex workers in southern India willing and unwilling to participate in a placebo gel trial

Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit female sex workers (FSWs) for a community survey conducted in southern India. After survey completion, participants were given a brochure describing a clinical trial that entailed daily use of a placebo vaginal gel for four months. This study assessed predictors of screening among survey respondents, predictors of enrollment among those eligible for the trial, and predictors of visit attendance and retention among those enrolled. FSWs who reported having symptoms of sexually transmitted infections (STI), engaging in sex work in the past month, and living in a subdistrict easily accessible by public transportation with a high concentration of FSWs, were more likely to screen. FSWs who had never been tested for HIV were more likely to enroll. This analysis suggests that the primary reason FSWs participated in the trial was a desire for health care-not other factors hypothesized to be important, e.g., HIV risk perception and poverty status.

Research Challenges and Bioethics Responsibilities in the Aftermath of the Presidential Apology to the Survivors of the U. S. Public Health Services Syphilis Study at Tuskegee

In 1997 President William Clinton issued an apology to the living male survivors of the U.S. Public Health Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. While the apology became the focus for many, little attention has been paid going forward to two very important recommendations by President Clinton that accompanied the apology. President Clinton pointed out that it is through the remembering of the shameful past of the Syphilis Study at Tuskegee that we can build a better present and a better future for the nation. Second, President Clinton directed the Secretary of Health and Human Services to work in partnership with higher education to prepare training materials for medical researchers as well as postgraduate fellowships to train bioethicists to build on core ethical principles of respect for individuals, justice, and informed consent, and how to use these principles effectively in racial/ethnic minority populations, especially African Americans. This article examines bioethical research challenges left in the wake of the U.S. Public Health Syphilis Study at Tuskegee and the presidential apology. This manuscript raises for consideration the inclusion of these issues in health care reform and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. It asks: What is the right or good thing to do? What are our obligations to one another? Two challenges are examined: 1) Conducting research with African Americans without knowledge of bioethics specific to this population; and 2) The ethical dilemma of conducting research that does not adequately take into account the diversity within the Black population that is a contributing factor in health disparities. Training and policy recommendations responsive to President Clinton's Apology are presented.