To Participate or Not: Factors Associated with Minority Communities' Willingness to Engage in Research

BACKGROUND: Minority populations account for about 33% of all Americans; however, less than 10% of them participate in clinical trials. According to the NIH, “The recruitment and retention of racial and ethnic minorities into clinical trials is a leading challenge confronting clinical researchers and undoubtedly contributes to the persistence of health disparities.” Thus, additional research is needed to identify and understand the factors associated with minority communities' willingness to engage in research, which will lead to effective culturally-tailored interventions to address this disparity. The goal of this study is to examine barriers and facilitators associated with participation of minority populations in public health research and clinical trials. METHODS: We conducted a national telephone survey with a random sample of African American and Latino adults ages 18 years and older (n=3770). The survey, known as “Building Trust,” included several standardized instruments to assess knowledge of research, research terminology, informed consent procedures, human subjects' protections, previous participation in research, previous experiences with health care delivery, social support, risk perception, religiousness, and trust. In addition, data collection of socio-demographic variables was matched with census tract variables to assess for regional differences. RESULTS: This presentation will highlight findings from the nationally representative telephone survey, which specifically focused on African American and Latino adults about barriers and facilitators associated with willingness to participate in research. CONCLUSION: Information from the survey can inform the development of culturally-tailored interventions to successfully recruit and retain minorities into public health research and clinical trials.