Factors influencing the willingness to participate in medical research: a nationwide survey in Taiwan

Abstract

BackgroundParticipation rate is one of the main challenges medical researchers face. We examined how demographic background and trust in medical research affect the willingness of people to participate in medical research in Taiwan.MethodsData from the 2011 Taiwan Genomic Survey (a nationwide representative face-to-face survey) were analyzed. The survey included a vignette of a researcher conducting a clinical trial of an investigative medicinal product, and questions for interviewees regarding their willingness to participate in research after they were informed of the scenario description. A total of 3,159 people, aged 18 to 70 years, were sampled, and 1,538 of them completed the survey. With missing data excluded, a total of 1,389 respondents were included in the final analysis.ResultsAbout 12 percent of the respondents answered that they would be willing to participate in medical research. Respondents who had college degrees or above and were married or lived with significant others were less likely to participate in medical research. By contrast, male respondents, and respondents whose household family members had biomedicine-related degrees or had one themselves were more likely to participate in medical research. After adjustment for demographic factors, respondents were more likely to participate in medical research if: (1) they expressed trust in doctors conducting medical research; (2) they agreed that doctors would never ask them to join medical research studies that might harm them; (3) they thought that participating in a medical research study would be safe; and (4) they agreed that researchers had no selfish reasons for doing the medical research.DiscussionSome of our findings, such as the effects of education level and marital status on participation in medical research, are different from most findings of previous studies conducted in other countries. This study is useful for developing strategies to improve participant recruitment. Relevant discussions on research ethics and policies, such as the importance of public trust in medical researchers, could also be based on this study.

Indicators of retention in remote digital health studies: a cross-study evaluation of 100,000 participants

“…Put another way, although there is significant dropout in remote trials, these early drop-outs may be able to yield very useful information about differences in people who are willing to participate in research and those who are not willing to participate. For decades clinical research has been criticized for its potential bias because people who participate in research may be very different from people who do not participate in research [50][51][52] . Although researchers will not have longitudinal data from those who discontinue participation early, the information collected during onboarding can be used to assess potential biases in the final sample and may inform future targeted retention strategies.…”

<p>Factors Influencing Public Knowledge and Willingness to Participate in Biomedical Research in Jordan: A National Survey</p>

“…In a study from Taiwan, male respondents and those with a biomedical degree or whose household family members had one were more likely to participate in biomedical research. 10 Sex has also been reported to be a factor in participation in biomedical research in studies conducted in UK and US. 27 , 28 In the present study, knowledge of participants about biomedical research aspects was rated as moderate (score 12.9 out of 20).…”

“…8 Additionally, sociodemographic factors, including education, income, and religion, may influence participants' decision to provide their consent and to participate in biomedical research. [9][10][11][12] There have been few studies that have evaluated awareness of participants about biomedical research and factors affecting their willingness to participate in biomedical research in the Middle East, 13,14 and none has been conducted within the Jordanian community. Accordingly, the aim of the current study was to assess the knowledge and awareness of public in Jordan about biomedical research and to determine factors associated with their participation in various types of biomedical research studies.…”

Translation and Validation of the Greek Version of a Questionnaire Measuring Patient Views on Participation in Clinical Trials

“…maintaining good ethical standards and hence reducing risk, maximizing research bene ts, and assuring distributive justice to participants, contributes to promoting participants' trust to researchers [33]. Conversely, several studies showed that nancial con icts of interest between participants and researchers can undermine participants' trust in researchers [72,[77][78][79][80][81].…”