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Identifying barriers may improve adolescent and young adult clinical trial participation
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Adolescents and young adults identified commitment of time and having too much to think about as obstacles to their participation in clinical oncology trials.
Researchers analyzed data from questionnaires given to adolescents and young adults as well as their parents at three Canadian and two American pediatric oncology centers. Eighty-six adolescents and young adults and 40 parents completed the questionnaires.
Parents who had participated in research were more likely to authorize their children to participate (P<.001). Sixty-seven percent of young participants and 85% of parents answered that they would participate because it would help others, followed by it would help themselves or their child.
The most commonly cited reason for not participating was having too much else to think about and the study being too time-consuming. Young participants were more concerned than parents about the amount of time the study would consume.
Among the reasons cited by parents who declined authorization for their child were travel barriers and wanting the best proven treatment. Parents aged younger than 40 years with less than a high school education were more likely to decline (P<.02).
No demographic association was observed for several variables in univariate analysis; however, nonwhite parents (12.5%) were more likely to decline their own participation in a trial than white parents (3.7%; P<.01).
“By understanding how the adolescent and young adult and adult oncology populations differ on the basis of factors that influence decision-making about research participation, we may be able to design studies and implement recruitment strategies specific for each target population,” the researchers said.
Read K. Pediatrics. 2009;124:959-965.