Abstract A082: Influencing women's attitudes toward participation in breast cancer clinical research: Improving inclusion of women of color

Abstract

The United States is increasingly racially and ethnically diverse. In fact, California is now a majority-minority region, with a greater percentage of its population comprised of racial minorities than whites. Yet, minorities are continually under-represented in clinical research trials, which provide crucial information on which the future of cancer treatments is built. Without representative inclusion of participants of color in clinical research, we cannot develop effective preventative and treatment approaches for everyone. This current study investigates the factors, including characteristics of study consenters, that may influence women—particularly women of color (WOC)—to accept or decline participation in breast cancer-related trials. We assess these factors through a brief survey, administered to patients immediately after they were invited to participate in a breast cancer-related clinical study. From the beginning of study accrual to the present, twenty-three patients have taken the survey. We anticipate accruing 200 participants at a rate of 25 per month. For the preliminary analyses, we split participants in two groups: white women (WW) (n = 14) and women of color (WOC) (n = 9). We conducted independent sample t-tests to compare the responses of WW and WOC. More WOC (M = 1.44, SD = 0.73) reported that it is important that their consenter is of the same ethnicity or race than WW (M = 1.00, SD = .00), t (21) = -2.32, p < .05. Similarly, WOC (M = 1.44, SD = .73) also reported that it is important that the person inviting them to participate in research look like people in their community, compared to the importance placed on this factor by WW (M = 1.00, SD = .00), t (21) = -2.32, p < .05). More WOC (M = 2.33, SD = 1.23) also cited “feeling overwhelmed” with their medical condition as influential in their decision to participate in clinical research than WW (M = 1.31, SD = .48), t (20) = -2.75, p < .05. Although both groups positively rated their interaction with the consenter, we observed marginal differences between WOC and WW. WOC (M = 7.00, SD = .00) gave higher ratings to the variable of “consenter created an atmosphere of trust and support” compared to ratings given by WW (M = 6.29, SD = 1.07), t (21) = -1.99, p = .06. Though participants are generally satisfied with their consenter interaction, different factors influence WW and WOC as they decide whether to participate in clinical research. When identified, these factors can be used to inform more inclusive consenting processes. Citation Format: Noe R. Chavez, Alan Nunez, Angela K. Wong, Tanya A. Chavez, Ellen Rippberger, Christine Thai, Angelica Sanchez, Ombeni M. Idassi, Krista M. Round, Kendall Kennedy, Margarita Robles, Jackelyn A. Alva-Ornelas, Jerneja Tomsic, Chidimma M.K. Kalu, Laura L. Kruper, Veronica C. Jones, Sharon Clancy, Amy C. Polverini, Courtney Vito, Karen Harold, Terry Hyslop, Carola M. Zalles, Daniel B. Schmolze, Christopher Sistrunk, Victoria L. Seewaldt. Influencing women's attitudes toward participation in breast cancer clinical research: Improving inclusion of women of color [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2018 Nov 2-5; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(6 Suppl):Abstract nr A082.