Sentinel Network: Increasing health research participation

BACKGROUND: Current findings from health research do not fully account for genetic, age, gender, racial and ethnic differences due to underrepresentation of women, the elderly, ethnic and racial populations in research. Hence, the purpose of this study is to understand the motivations and barriers to health research participation in five community sites. METHOD: Community health workers (CHWs) from the Sentinel Network (Washington University, U.C. Davis, U. Michigan, U. Rochester, Einstein) administered a common assessment regarding top health concerns, self-reported health conditions, and willingness to participate in different types of health research to community members at various venues. RESULTS: CHWs administered the assessment to 5979 participants (59.4% women and average age of 42). Hypertension, diabetes, and cancer were the top reported health concerns. The top self-reported health condition was hypertension. Of those surveyed, 17.1% have been in a health research study and 87.3% were interested in participating. CONCLUSION: The top reported health concerns were consistent across the five sites. Although there was great interest in participating in health research studies, the number of people who reported to have participated in health studies was quite low. This discrepancy suggests that it is not the lack of interest but other barriers that contribute to low levels of health research participation.