Primary care physicians’ attitudes and beliefs about cancer clinical trials

Abstract

Background/Aims Cancer clinical trials give patients access to state-of-the art treatments and facilitate the translation of findings into mainstream clinical care. However, patients from racial and ethnic minority groups remain underrepresented in clinical trials. Primary care physicians are a trusted source of information for patients, yet their role in decision-making about cancer treatment and referrals to trial participation has received little attention. The aim of this study was to determine physicians’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about cancer clinical trials, their experience with trials, and their interest in appropriate training about trials. Methods 613 physicians in the New York City area primarily serving patients from ethnic and racial minority groups were invited via email to participate in a 20-minute online survey. Physicians were asked about their patient population, trial knowledge and attitudes, interest in training, and personal demographics. Using calculated scale variables, we used descriptive statistical analyses to better understand physicians’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about trials. Results 127 physicians completed the survey. Overall, they had low knowledge about and little experience with trials. However, they generally had positive attitudes toward trials, with 41.4% indicating a strong interest in learning more about their role in trials, and 35.7% indicating that they might be interested. Results suggest that Black and Latino physicians and those with more positive attitudes and beliefs were more likely to be interested in future training opportunities. Conclusions Primary care physicians may be an important group to target in trying to improve cancer clinical trial participation among minority patients. Future work should explore methods of educational intervention for such interested providers.

Analysis of the perceptions and attitudes to participate in radical and palliative clinical trials among Chinese lymphoma and head/neck cancer patients

“…Apart from the factors discussed above, previous studies found that propaganda and education addressing trial information could influence the patients' attitudes and perceptions toward clinical trials as well. The variation in knowledge of clinical trials held by primary care physicians and nurse practitioners could result in different efficiency in patient accrual and hence different probability of recruitment of participants 17-18. Our institution is a high-volume cancer center and the doctors and nurses in our institution are well-known of clinical trials and can adequately inform participants of well-organized education about the trial they signed in, which guarantees a high proportion of patients recruited in clinical trials from our institution.…”

The Educational Need Among Healthcare Professionals in Mauritius

“…Patients scored low on the knowledge reinforcing the need to further educate patients about CT. Healthcare providers need to portray information underlining the safety of trials. Our study was based on statements from HCPs and like several other studies reinforce the education of healthcare professionals on Clinical Research to boost recruitment rates (11). Another survey based study on the knowledge of CT (16) demonstrated that knowledge of participants on CT was limited especially on topics such as rationale of study, randomization and placebo and patient protection.…”

<p>Knowledge and Attitude of Medical Residents Towards Cancer Clinical Trials in Jordan</p>

“…Current findings were in agreement with results from other studies done in other developing countries. 11,16,17,20 Although a large percentage of medical residents reported that they have taken training courses about clinical research at some point during their clinical training, only a small number of them showed basic knowledge about ethical standards related to patients' privacy and rights protection codes. More than two thirds of respondent residents showed adequate knowledge about informed consent importance and elements as well as when it is mandatory to be taken.…”

“…21,22 Similar studies from the USA, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and India showed that physicians involved in cancer clinical trials had little knowledge or experience about clinical trials, yet they had high interest and positive attitude to learn more about the roles they could play in clinical trial research. 11,16,20,23 These findings suggest the need to provide physicians, especially those planning to run future clinical trials, with the proper training involving the ethical challenges and other obstacles that they might encounter in the future.…”

“…In addition, it will increase physicians' capacity for patients' referrals to clinical trials. 20 Residents with both strong research and clinical experience are generally more recognized when applying for academic positions or highly competitive subspecialty fellowships. 24,26 Taken altogether, it is clear that early involvement of residents in clinical research will reflect positively on their clinical performance and career advancement.…”