) African American women's decisions to participate in cancer clinical trials is not well understood. Although studies have generally shown that some combinations of knowledge, attitudes and perceptions affects the ultimate decisions, the specific determinants at each point in the decision making process have not been examined. For example, little if any information exists about the vast majority of persons who are initially, contacted about participation in cancer screening or prevention trials but never respond to the request. The purpose of this study is to better understand African American women's decisions regarding whether or not to participate in a trial at each point in the recruitment process. Participation in clinical trials by African Americans is very low. In order for clinical trials to be both successful and beneficial for all segments of the American population, they need to include adequate numbers of African Americans. This will ensure the generalizability of trial results to a population which is in urgent need of improving its health outcomes. Specifically we will: 1. Test an innovative methodology to examine the barriers and incentives to older African American women's participation trials cancer screening and prevention trials. 2. Using this methodology, we will identify factors that may influence older African American women's willingness to participate in cancer screening and prevention Trials. 3. We will identify, the major issues or concerns that older African American women have about participating in screening and prevention trials. 4. Develop an intervention strategy designed to optimize the recruitment of older African American women into screening trials that can be tested in a future study. To accomplish this objective will examine accrual issues for an ongoing trial, the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. This information will lead to development of testable hypotheses and intervention strategies to increase participation of African American women in cancer prevention and screening trials. Women who are actually considering the PLCO trial will be followed and their decisions making process assessed using a semi-structured interview. We will conduct approximately 250 interviews with African American women considering this trial at various phases of the PLCO recruitment process.
| Trauth, Jeanette M; Jernigan, Jan C; Siminoff, Laura A et al. (2005) Factors affecting older african american women's decisions to join the PLCO Cancer Screening Trial. J Clin Oncol 23:8730-8 |
