title: Clinicians' attitudes towards clinical trials of cancer therapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patient accrual into cancer clinical trials remains at low levels. This survey elicited attitudes and practices of cancer clinicians towards clinical trials.
  
  
  METHODS
  The 43-item Clinicians Attitudes to Clinical Trials Questionnaire was completed by participants in an intervention study aimed at improving multi-disciplinary involvement in randomised trials. Responses from 13 items were summed to form a research-orientation score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-seven clinicians (78%) returned questionnaires. Physicians, more often than surgeons, chose to prioritise prolonging a patient's life, recruited ≥50% of patients into trials and attended more research-focussed conferences. Clinicians at specialist centres were more positive about trials with no-treatment arms than those at district general hospitals, more likely to believe clinician, rather than patient reluctance to participate was the greater obstacle to trial accrual, and preferred national and international to local recognition. Clinicians belonging to breast and colorectal teams were less disappointed about not enrolling patients in trials and more accepting of no-treatment arm trials. Research orientation was higher in physicians than surgeons and higher in specialist centres than district hospitals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides greater understanding of clinicians' attitudes to trials. Results have been used to inform training interventions for clinicians targeting the problem of low and selective accrual.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Psychosocial Oncology Group, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK. e.ford@sussex.ac.uk
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ford
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jenkins
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fallowfield
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Stuart
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Farewell
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Farewell
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D018579:Patient Selection; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires