Abstract
Background: Black/African American adults are underrepresented in oncology clinical trials in the United States, despite efforts at narrowing this disparity.
Objective: This study aims to explore differences in how Black/African American oncology patients perceive clinical trials to improve support for the clinical trial participation decision-making process.
Methods: As part of a larger randomized controlled trial, a total of 244 adult oncology patients receiving active treatment or follow-up care completed a cross-sectional baseline survey on sociodemographic characteristics, clinical trial knowledge, health literacy, perceptions of cancer clinical trials, patient activation, patient advocacy, health care self-efficacy, decisional conflict, and clinical trial intentions. Self-reported race was dichotomized into Black/African American and non–Black/African American. As appropriate, 2-tailed t tests and chi-square tests of independence were used to examine differences between groups.
Results: Black/African American participants had lower clinical trial knowledge (P=.006), lower health literacy (P<.001), and more medical mistrust (all P values <.05) than non–Black/African American participants. While intentions to participate in a clinical trial, if offered, did not vary between Black/African American and non–Black/African American participants, Black/African American participants indicated lower awareness of clinical trials, fewer benefits of clinical trials, and more uncertainty around clinical trial decision-making (all P values <.05). There were no differences for other variables.
Conclusions: Despite no significant differences in intent to participate in a clinical trial if offered and high overall trust in individual health care providers among both groups, beliefs persist about barriers to and benefits of clinical trial participation among Black/African American patients. Findings highlight specific ways that education and resources about clinical trials could be tailored to better suit the informational and decision-making needs and preferences of Black/African American oncology patients.
Hoadley, A., Fleisher, L., Kenny, C., Kelly, P. J., Ma, X., Wu, J., Guerra, C., Leader, A. E., Alhajji, M., D’Avanzo, P., Landau, Z., & Bass, S. B. (2024). Exploring racial disparities in awareness and perceptions of oncology clinical trials: Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the mychoice study. JMIR Cancer, 10. https://doi.org/10.2196/56048