Educating Hispanics About Clinical Trials and Biobanking

Abstract

Hispanics are under-represented in clinical research. To ensure that the Hispanic population benefits from advances in public health and medicine, including personalized medicine, there is a need to increase their participation in clinical trials and biobanking. There is a great need for improving awareness and addressing concerns individuals may have about participation. The purpose of this study was to adapt, implement, and evaluate educational materials about clinical trials and biobanking for Hispanic individuals. We adapted existing materials based on focus group data. We then trained four promotoras de salud to deliver education to Hispanic adults in community settings in Houston, TX. The promotoras educated 101 Hispanic adults, 51 on biobanking and 50 on clinical trials. Study staff administered brief pre- and post-test questionnaires that measured benefits, barriers, norms, self-efficacy, and intention to participate in either clinical trials or biobanking. Our sample was predominately female (83%) and Spanish-speaking (69%) and made less than $25,000 a year (87%). This intervention increased perceived benefits of participating in biobanking and clinical trials, self-efficacy for donating biospecimens, and intention to participate in biobanking if invited. Perceived barriers to participating declined. This study demonstrated that brief education can result in improved perceptions and attitudes related to participation in biobanking and clinical trials, and could increase participation. Researchers and practitioners could use these educational materials to educate Hispanic community members on clinical research potentially increasing participation rates in the future.

Patients' Knowledge and Attitude Toward Biobanks in Eastern Morocco

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Best practices for recruitment of adolescents for biobanking and precision health research: a retrospective analysis comparing juvenile idiopathic arthritis cases with healthy controls

“…Hispanic or Latino adolescents are grossly underrepresented in clinical research trials, particularly those that involve biospecimen collection. [ 15 , 22 , 23 ] As a result, we consider it to be a great success that the proportion of Hispanic or Latino participants who enrolled in our study after referral compared to those who declined was so high. As described by Garcia et al (2017), a personal connection and direct contact with the research team are important to enroll Hispanic or Latino participants.…”

Analysis of Population Differences in Digital Conversations About Cancer Clinical Trials: Advanced Data Mining and Extraction Study

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