title: Enrolling Minority and Underserved Populations in Cancer Clinical Research.
abstract: Research suggests that community involvement is integral to solving public health problems, including involvement in clinical trials-a gold standard. Significant racial/ethnic disparities exist in the accrual of participants for clinical trials. Location and cultural aspects of clinical trials influence recruitment and accrual to clinical trials. It is increasingly necessary to be aware of defining characteristics, such as location and culture of the populations from which research participants are enrolled. Little research has examined the effect of location and cultural competency in adapting clinical trial research for minority and underserved communities on accrual for clinical trials. Utilizing embedded community academic sites, the authors applied cultural competency frameworks to adapt clinical trial research in order to increase minority participation in nontherapeutic cancer clinical trials. This strategy resulted in successful accrual of participants to new clinical research trials, specifically targeting participation from minority and underserved communities in metropolitan Washington, DC. From 2012 to 2014, a total of 559 participants enrolled across six nontherapeutic clinical trials, representing a 62% increase in the enrollment of blacks in clinical research. Embedding cancer prevention programs and research in the community was shown to be yet another important strategy in the arsenal of approaches that can potentially enhance clinical research enrollment and capacity. The analyses showed that the capacity to acquire cultural knowledge about patients-their physical locales, cultural values, and environments in which they live-is essential to recruiting culturally and ethnically diverse population samples.
authors.affiliation: Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, District of Columbia. Electronic address: slw49@georgetown.edu.
authors.forename: Sherrie F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Wallington
authors.affiliation: Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, District of Columbia.
authors.forename: Chiranjeev
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dash
authors.affiliation: Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, District of Columbia.
authors.forename: Vanessa B
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Sheppard
authors.affiliation: National Center for Cultural Competence, Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia.
authors.forename: Tawara D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Goode
authors.affiliation: Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, District of Columbia; Georgetown University Medical Center, Department of Surgery, Washington, District of Columbia.
authors.forename: Bridget A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Oppong
authors.affiliation: Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, District of Columbia.
authors.forename: Everett E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Dodson
authors.affiliation: Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, District of Columbia.
authors.forename: Rhonda N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.affiliation: Georgetown-Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, District of Columbia.
authors.forename: Lucile L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Adams-Campbell
mesh_terms: D044383:Black People; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research; D054521:Cultural Competency; D004219:District of Columbia; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups; D009369:Neoplasms; D018579:Patient Selection; D035862:Vulnerable Populations; D001741:Black or African American