The realities of health disparities are well documented. The HIV/AIDS epidemic is a health crisis for African Americans and a serious threat to the Hispanic Community. In 2003, African Americans accounted for 50% of the new HIV/AIDS cases. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Brief, African Americans/Blacks make up 12.9% of the U.S. population and account for 40% of the 929,985 estimated AIDS cases. The U. S. Census Bureau also reports as of May 2001 Hispanics account for 12.5% of the population. In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that Hispanics accounted for 13% of the new cases with an increase of 26% since 1999. As the numbers indicate, HIV/AIDS is a serious concern to both African Americans and Hispanics. ? ? Additionally there is an underrepresentation of Hispanics and African Americans in clinical trials. It is critical that Hispanics and African Americans with HIV/AIDS be included in clinical trials. Minority underrepresentation in clinical trials prohibits generalizability of results and is of significant concern. ? ? In this study, we propose examining the decision making processes of Hispanics and African Americans with HIV/AIDS around their decision to enter a clinical trial in an effort to develop a future instrument to measure decision making in this population. This is a descriptive, exploratory mixed methods study designed to examine the decision-making process among a convenience sample of minority patients who are enrolled in active HIV/AIDS protocols. ? ? To date, the focus groups and in-depth interviews have been completed. Of the 35 patients interviewed, 8 subjects have participated in both a focus group and in-depth interview. All of the tapes for the focus group and the in-depth interviews have been transcribed verbatim. All transcripts that were transcribed in Spanish have been translated into English. NVivo will be the software used to analze the qualitative data.
