Factors Influencing Public Knowledge and Willingness to Participate in Biomedical Research in Jordan: A National Survey

Knowledge and Beliefs about Clinical Trials among Adults in Poland: A Cross-Sectional Study

Clinical trials, by contributing to the development of diagnostics and to the search for modern, more effective, and safer therapies, have become one of the most important elements of the healthcare system. They enable the introduction of innovative drugs and treatments that can significantly improve patients' quality of life. Not only does this research help to understand disease mechanisms, but it also enables the personalization of therapy, which often increases the effectiveness of treatment. Public awareness of clinical trials helps build trust in science and medicine, which is fundamental to the effective functioning of the healthcare system. The aim of this study was to assess Poles' knowledge and beliefs about clinical trials.

METHODS

The survey was conducted among Poles aged 18 and over with the help of an external company, Ariadna, which is an independent research panel. The questionnaire contained 22 questions, of which 13 questions concerned beliefs and attitudes towards clinical trials.

RESULTS

One thousand and seventy-nine participants took part in the study (n = 1079). The mean age of respondents was 44.96 years (SD = 16.30). Slightly more women (n = 568, 52.6%) than men (n = 511, 47.4%) took part in the study. Among the respondents, 86.5% (n = 933) were aware of clinical trials. The main sources of information about clinical trials were the media (53.8%) including the Internet (n = 355, 32.9%), TV (n = 175, 16.2%), press (n = 30, 2.8%), and radio (n = 21, 1.9%). 43.2% (n = 466) of respondents reported little knowledge of clinical trials, while more than three quarters (n = 805, 75.2%) said they would like to learn more about clinical trials. Most respondents (n = 879, 81.4%) agreed with the statement that participation in a clinical trial is completely voluntary, and more than half (n = 580, 53.7%) agreed with the statement that hospitals participating in clinical trials provide better healthcare. The statement that the results of clinical trials are made available to the public was disagreed with by 37.2% (n = 402) of participants. Only 30.3% (n = 327) of participants agreed that clinical trials should be conducted with children. Most respondents (n = 638, 59.1%) agreed with the statement that a patient in a clinical trial is insured. 48.3% (n = 521) of participants are aware that a clinical trial can be withdrawn from at any time.

CONCLUSIONS

Poles rate their knowledge of clinical trials as low and would like to learn more. Poles' knowledge of clinical trials is mainly based on commercial sources.

Do biobanks need pharmacists? Support of pharmacy students to biobanking of human biological material for pharmaceutical research and development

Objectives

This study aimed to assess the biobank awareness among Polish pharmacy students and how it affects their support for biobank research.

Methods

A survey among 366 pharmacy students enrolled at two Polish medical universities: the Poznań University of Medical Sciences and Medical University of Lublin was conducted.

Results

Although most pharmacy students felt positivity about biobanking and expressed the willingness to donate their biospecimens for biomedical research, their awareness on research biobanks was low. Their willingness to participate was driven by the desire to benefit society, help advance science and develop new therapies. While students supported donation for most types of research, biobanks run by medical universities were the highest trusted research institutions. The primary factors associated with student's willingness to participate were religiosity and place of study. Notably, nonreligious students and those studying in Poznan exhibited more favourable attitudes toward donating for research and expressed greater support for the establishment of research biobanks in Poland.

Conclusion

Since biobank awareness among future pharmacists is inadequate incorporating biobank competency domains into education and training of pharmacists is required.

Knowledge of and Attitudes Toward Clinical Trials: A Questionnaire-Based Study of 179 Male Third- and Fourth-Year PharmD Undergraduates from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND Clinical Trials (CTs) are essential for the formation of a new medicine. This questionnaire-based study included 179 male third- and fourth-year PharmD undergraduate students from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, between 18 and 23 years of age, was conducted in 2022, and aimed to evaluate student knowledge and attitudes toward CTs. MATERIAL AND METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted using self-administered questionnaires. The data was collected using convenience sampling. Part 1 of the study collected demographics, with 6 items; part 2 measured knowledge about CTs (9 items); part 3 measured attitudes (5 items) measured on a 5-point Likert scale. A score of 1 was given for correct, and a score of 0 for each incorrect response. Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate the determinants of knowledge and attitudes about CTs. RESULTS A total of 108 (60.3%) undergraduates reported having heard about CTs, 15% of undergraduates had heard about institutional review boards, while 74.3% of the undergraduates believed that CTs have direct benefits to society. The mean knowledge score of the CTs among the students was 5.75±2.32 (median 6.00), while the mean attitude score of CTs was 16.45±4.56 (median 16.00). However, the results of the simple regression model revealed that age, year of study, and chronic disease status were not predictors of the knowledge and attitude score (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS This study indicated that half of undergraduates were aware of CTs, were knowledgeable, and showed positive attitudes. Furthermore, the study identified potential misunderstandings about the benefits of CTs.

Impact of caregivers' psychological and caregiving status on recruitment, conversion, and retention in stem cell therapy trials for cerebral palsy: A prospective survey analysis

AIM

To examine specific correlates that may affect retention outcomes of neural stem cell therapy trials in families screened for cerebral palsy.

DESIGN

A prospective correlational study.

METHODS

Primary caregivers completed surveys of psychological resilience, care burden and family caregiver tasks. The overall data and differences between groups were analysed and compared.

RESULTS

Resilience was negatively correlated with the care ability and closely related to the monthly household income and educational level of the caregivers. Factors affecting the final retention rate included the type of disease, number of combined disorders, monthly household income, primary caregivers' education level and resilience.

CONCLUSION

Economic level, literacy and psychological status may affect trial retention. These findings can provide tips for preparing for subsequent screening, identification and intervention in stem cell clinical trials.

IMPLICATION FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE

The study results may provide nursing care tips to make recruitment more efficient, reduce trial costs, support patient-centredness and accelerate trial progress.

NO PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

The target population involves the primary caregivers of children living with cerebral palsy. However, neither patients nor the public contributed to the design or conduct of the study, analysis, or interpretation of the data, or preparation of the manuscript.

Assessment of willingness of Saudi public to participate in a dental biorepository for research purposes

BACKGROUND

Biobanks/biorepositories are created to collect biospecimens for therapeutic and research uses. The success of the banking concept depends predominantly on the public's understanding and desire to contribute, which triggers several social, cultural, and ethical implications. The aim of this study is (1) to assess the willingness among adults attending outpatient clinics at King Abdulaziz Medical City to donate dental tissue samples to a biorepository for research purposes, (2) to identify the significant predictors for positive attitudes and willingness to donate dental bio-specimens.

METHODOLOGY

This is a cross-sectional study that targeted 401 adult outpatients attending King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire focused on three main parts: demographic and personal characteristics, and previous experience regarding biorepositories (part I), knowledge about dental biorepositories (part II), and willingness and attitudes towards donating dental biospecimens (part III). Data collected were analyzed using the statistical program SAS (version 9.4) with 0.05 level of significance to determine the willingness of donating tissue to biobanks for biomedical research purposes, measure knowledge and attitude about biobanking, find the association between the assessed variables, and identify significant predictors of positive attitude to donate dental biospecimens.

RESULTS

66% of the participants were willing to donate dental biospecimens, however only 33.9% showed good level of knowledge. Despite the notable lack of knowledge, 54% respondents had favorable attitude towards donating dental biospecimens, and only 17% were negative while the remaining 29% were neutral. Previous involvement in medical research, previous blood testing or donation, female gender, higher education level, employment in a medical facility, and higher monthly income variables were found to be significantly associated with higher willingness to donate dental biospecimens.

CONCLUSION

Although the majority of the participants exhibited lack of knowledge about dental biorepositories, they showed high willingness and good attitude towards donating dental biospecimens. This favorable attitude is, in turn, encouraging for the future establishment of dental biorepositories in Saudi Arabia. Six factors were significantly associated with the willingness to donate dental biospecimens, out of these, female gender, previous blood testing/donation, previous involvement in medical research were found to be strong predictors.

Public's awareness of biobanks and willingness to participate in biobanking: the moderating role of social value orientation

Although the awareness of biobanks is considered to be a key factor in the willingness to participate in biobanking, the empirical evidence on their relationship is inconsistent. The present study investigated social value orientation as an explanatory factor in this relationship. A representative sample of 600 Slovaks completed Slider Measure to assess their social value orientation. Thereafter, they reported their level of awareness of biobanks and their willingness to provide biospecimens and personal information to biobanks. The results showed a positive relationship between awareness and willingness. Although social value orientation was not the moderator, we found that this relationship was significant only in the groups of altruists and individualists. The results remained robust after taking sociodemographic and institutional trust factors into account. Our findings imply that biobank awareness programmes should highlight both prosocial and proself motives to attract people with various social value orientations to participate in biobanking.

Clinical Research: A Review of Study Designs, Hypotheses, Errors, Sampling Types, Ethics, and Informed Consent

Recently, we have been noticing an increase in the emergence and re-emergence of microbial infectious diseases. In the previous 100 years, there were several incidences of pandemics caused by different microbial species like the influenza virus, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), dengue virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV), middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and SARS-CoV-2 that were responsible for severe morbidity and mortality among humans. Moreover, non-communicable diseases, including malignancies, diabetes, heart, liver, kidney, and lung diseases, have been on the rise. The medical fraternity, people, and governments all need to improve their preparedness to effectively tackle health emergencies. Clinical research, therefore, assumes increased significance in the current world and may potentially be applied to manage human health-related problems. In the current review, we describe the critical aspects of clinical research that include research designs, types of study hypotheses, errors, types of sampling, ethical concerns, and informed consent.

Social differentiation of the perception and human tissues donation for research purposes

The willingness to donate human biological material for research purposes is shaped by socio-cultural factors; however, there is a lack of studies analysing the social perception of different human tissues, which may affect such willingness. This study aimed to distinguish different sociocultural categories of human tissues and types of potential donors based on their willingness to donate material. Quantitative research was conducted on a sample of 1,100 adult Poles representative in terms of sex, place of residence and education. According to the study, people were most willing to donate urine (73.9%), blood (69.7%), hair and tears (69.6%) and the least willing to donate post-mortem brain fragments (20%), sperm (males; 36.4%) and egg cells (females; 39.6%). A factor analysis revealed four sociocultural categories of donated tissues: irrelevant, redundant, ordinary and sensitive. Based on these sociocultural categories of tissues, four types of donors were identified: reluctant, highly cooperative, average cooperative and selectively cooperative. The willingness to donate human samples for research is shaped by the sociocultural perception of different body parts and tissues. The lower the sense of “personal relationship” with a specific type of tissue, organ or part of the body, the higher the motivation to donate such biological material for research purposes. Additionally, the willingness to donate is mostly shaped by social trust in physicians and scientists, and potential donors’ engagement in charity activities.

Social differentiation of the perception and human tissues donation for research purposes

The willingness to donate human biological material for research purposes is shaped by socio-cultural factors; however, there is a lack of studies analysing the social perception of different human tissues, which may affect such willingness. This study aimed to distinguish different sociocultural categories of human tissues and types of potential donors based on their willingness to donate material. Quantitative research was conducted on a sample of 1,100 adult Poles representative in terms of sex, place of residence and education. According to the study, people were most willing to donate urine (73.9%), blood (69.7%), hair and tears (69.6%) and the least willing to donate post-mortem brain fragments (20%), sperm (males; 36.4%) and egg cells (females; 39.6%). A factor analysis revealed four sociocultural categories of donated tissues: irrelevant, redundant, ordinary and sensitive. Based on these sociocultural categories of tissues, four types of donors were identified: reluctant, highly cooperative, average cooperative and selectively cooperative. The willingness to donate human samples for research is shaped by the sociocultural perception of different body parts and tissues. The lower the sense of “personal relationship” with a specific type of tissue, organ or part of the body, the higher the motivation to donate such biological material for research purposes. Additionally, the willingness to donate is mostly shaped by social trust in physicians and scientists, and potential donors’ engagement in charity activities.

Associations between the Willingness to Donate Samples to Biobanks and Selected Psychological Variables

Over the past few decades, there has been a dynamic development of biobanks collecting human biological material and data. Advances in biomedical research based on biobanks, however, are highly dependent on the successful enrolment and participation of human subjects. Therefore, it is crucial to recognise those factors affecting the willingness of individuals to participate in biomedical research. There are very few studies pointing to the role of trust, preferred values and specific psychological factors. The aim of our study was the analysis of the most significant relationships between selected moral and psychological variables (i.e., preferred values, types of trust and personality) and willingness to donate biological material to biobanks. The research was carried out on a Polish representative national sample of 1100 people over 18 years of age. Statistical methods with regression models were used during the analyses. The willingness to donate samples to a biobank was associated with different types of trust and specific values. Based on regression analysis, the most important factors related to the willingness to donate material to biobanks seemed to be (1) trust towards scientists and doctors and (2) selected preferred values such as knowledge, self-development and tradition. Other values or personality traits did not seem to be as important in this context. The obtained results can be useful in building the social responsibility of biobankers and scientists, issuing more appropriate opinions by research ethics committees and planning better communication strategies between participants and biobanks.