Background and Purpose The National Institutes of Health (NIH) policy calls for the inclusion of underrepresented groups, such as women and minorities, in clinical research. Poor minority recruitment and retention in stroke clinical trials remains a significant challenge limiting safety and efficacy in a general population. Previous research examines participant barriers to clinical trial involvement, but little is known about the investigator perspective. This study addresses this gap and examines researcher reported barriers and best practices of minority involvement in stroke clinical trials. Methods Quantitative and qualitative methods, including surveys, focus groups, and key informant interviews were used. Results In a survey of 93 prominent stroke researchers; n=43 (51.2%) (70% response rate) reported proactively setting recruitment goals for minority inclusion; n=29 (36.3 %) reported requiring cultural competency staff training and n=44 (51.2%) reported community consultation about trial design. Focus groups and key informant interviews highlighted structural and institutional challenges to recruitment of minorities, including mistrust of the research/medical enterprise, poor communication, and lack of understanding of clinical trials. Researcher-identified best practices included using standardized project management procedures and protocols (e.g., realistic budgeting to support challenges in recruitment, such as travel/parking reimbursement for participants), training research staff on cultural competency and communication strategies, and developing and fostering community partnerships that guide the research process. Conclusion This study’s formative evaluation contributes a new dimension to the literature as it highlights researcher-reported barriers and best practices for enhancing participation of minority populations into stroke clinical trials.
Purpose The purpose of this study was to characterize COVID-19 content posted by users and disseminated via TikTok, a social media platform that has become known largely as an entertainment platform for viral video-sharing. We sought to capture how TikTok videos posted during the initial months of the COVID pandemic changed over time as cases accelerated. Methods This study is an observational analysis of sequential TikTok videos with #coronavirus from January to March 2020. Videos were independently coded to assess content (e.g., health relatedness, humor, fear, empathy), misinformation, and public sentiment. To assess engagement, we also codified how often videos were shared relative to their content. Results We coded 750 videos and approximately one in four videos tagged with #coronavirus featured health-related content such as featuring objects such as face masks, hand sanitizer, and other cleaning products. Most videos evoked “humor/parody,” whereas 15% and 6% evoked “fear” and “empathy”, respectively. TikTok videos posted in March 2020 had the largest number of shares and comments compared with January and February 2020. The proportion of shares and comments for “misleading and incorrect information” featured in videos was lower in March than in January and February 2020. There was no statistical difference between the share and comment counts of videos coded as "incorrect/incomplete" and "correct" over the entire time period. Conclusions Analyzing readily available social media platforms, such as TikTok provides real-time insights into public views, frequency and types of misinformation, and norms toward COVID-19. Analyzing TikTok videos has the potential to be used to inform public health messaging and public health mitigation strategies.
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