From physician-centered to community-oriented perspectives on health care: assessing the efficacy of community-based training.

Purpose: To understand the influence of a community-based child advocacy block rotation on the perspectives of first-year pediatric residents and whether this influence persists.

Method: The authors conducted semistructured interviews to assess the impact of the training program on pediatrics residents' perspectives regarding child advocacy and their understanding of the role of the community members and community-based assets in child advocacy. Three cohorts of first-year residents at the University of California, Davis, participated in the two-week community collaborative rotation from 2000 03.

Evaluation of factors affecting awareness of and willingness to participate in cancer clinical trials.

Purpose: Annually, only 3% of patients participate in cancer clinical trials (CCTs). Barriers to accrual include lack of CCT awareness and uncertain third-party payer coverage. In January 2002, a California law (Senate Bill 37 [SB37]) required all third-party payers to reimburse patient care costs related to CCTs.

Asian Americans and cancer clinical trials: a mixed-methods approach to understanding awareness and experience.

Cancer clinical trials have been based on low accrual rates. Barriers to recruitment of minority populations affect the generalizability and impact of trial findings for those populations. The authors undertook a mixed-methods approach to understanding levels of awareness and experiences with cancer clinical trials.