Public participation in precision medicine (PM) research is essential to achieving effective health care but has been impeded by a lack of awareness and basic knowledge. There is a critical need for educational materials that can clearly explain PM to foster involvement. This randomized controlled trial with a posttest-only control group design aims to assess the effects of educational messages delivered through animations relative to live-action videos and leaflets on intentions of involvement in PM research.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study investigates the role of source credibility on minority participant recruitment, particularly African American and Black Caribbean patients. A total of nine focus groups (N = 48 participants) were conducted with both patient groups and clinical research coordinators (CRCs). Using the elaboration likelihood model as a guiding framework for analysis, this study found that the credibility of research coordinators (or other professionals who recruit for research studies and clinical trials) was instrumental in shaping attitudes of prospective participants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis manuscript focuses on the communication factors that affect the willingness of African Americans and Black Caribbean patients to participate in clinical trials and research studies. Low rates of research participation by members of communities of color have long been linked to health disparities. While there are many factors that contribute to low rates of accrual of African American and Black patients to clinical trials, a lack of attention to communication factors that enhance or inhibit the recruitment process is central to the problem.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Recruiting diverse participants for precision medicine (PM) research programs should overcome low literacy and varied expectations. Information aids (IA) can address these barriers through patient-centered education. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of three information aids (IA) on participating in PM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The science of team science (SciTS) is an emerging research area that studies the processes and outcomes of team-based research. A well-established conceptual framework and appropriate methodology for examining the effectiveness of team science are critically important for promoting and advancing collaborative and interdisciplinary research. Although many instruments have been developed and used in the SciTS field, psychometric evidence has not been routinely assessed or reported for these scales.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the availability of free pap testing services, Jamaican women have low human papillomavirus (HPV) screening rates; 16% of women in the Kingston Metropolitan Area have been screened within the prior 3 years. This paper discusses the testing of theory-based messages to increase HPV screening uptake in a low-resource setting, using HPV self-test kits designed for this intervention. A total of 163 Jamaican women, aged 30-65 years, who had not had a pap test in at least 3 years, from two low socioeconomic status communities in Kingston, were enrolled and assigned to one of two versions of an HPV self-test kit, either with or without culturally targeted fear appeal messages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Incentivizing the development of interdisciplinary scientific teams to address significant societal challenges usually takes the form of pilot funding. However, while pilot funding is likely necessary, it is not sufficient for successful collaborations. Interdisciplinary collaborations are enhanced when team members acquire competencies that support team success.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere has not been a significant improvement in the rate of clinical trial accrual in more than 20 years. Worse, the challenge of inadequate representation among racial and ethnic minorities also persists, deepening disparities in health. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is a participatory communication method that centers on effective dialogue between researchers and community stakeholders with the goal of creating an equitable partnership for health and social change.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Learning about clinical trials is as stressful and challenging for cancer patients as it is for the clinical staff who provide education to patients. Information aids (IAs) can support both discussions and patients' decision-making, especially when IAs offer interactive features that provide information based on individuals' needs and experiences. However, it is not clear which factors contribute to interactive IAs' effectiveness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJamaican women do not participate in routine Pap test screening as recommended, despite the availability of free Pap test services at community clinics. This low uptake has been associated with cultural and structural barriers such as limited knowledge and awareness, fear of pain associated with Pap tests, fear of diagnosis, modesty or self-consciousness, medical mistrust, and discontent with healthcare services. This study suggests that a multicomponent, community-based intervention that includes education and self-testing for the virus that causes cervical cancer (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAfter a diagnosis of cancer (or other serious disease), patients may be asked to consider joining a clinical trial. Because most people are unfamiliar with the scientific concepts that are necessary to the provision of meaningful informed consent, patient education is necessary. Increasing knowledge alone is not sufficient; understanding how clinical trial participation aligns with personal circumstances and knowledge is central to the decision-making process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer patients learn about research studies outside of the clinical environment, including websites, print and online advertisements, and interpersonal interactions. When cancer patients share credible information about clinical trials, they also frequently help clarify misunderstandings that may exist in their social networks. The present study investigated how an interactive tailored information aid on clinical trial participation motivated patients' information sharing behaviors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the disproportionate burden of cervical cancer among Caribbean women, evaluations of targeted communication interventions to increase screening behaviors are sparsely represented in extant literature. Informed by data on the cognitive, affective and sociocultural factors associated with low cervical screening in the English-speaking island of Jamaica, the current study aimed to explore how theory-based message design, coupled with innovative solutions, might increase screening. In this formative research study, we first described the process used to develop culturally-targeted fear appeal messages embedded within an HPV self-sampling kit developed by the researchers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHealth communication experts continually seek out effective strategies to strengthen persuasive campaigns. While there is evidence that verbal metaphors can improve persuasion, little attention has been given to the potential of visual metaphors to enhance health communication effects. To fill this gap, an experiment was conducted to test the effects of metaphor modality (visual vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnrollment rates of cancer clinical trials remain low, affecting the delivery of effective medical treatments. Recent research has documented common factors affecting trial participation, but to improve these efforts more studies are needed to further understand specific concerns and issues of potential participants in multiple contexts. Forums and other online peer-to-peer health communities are crucial to the coping and survivorship of cancer patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnrollment rates for cancer clinical trials remain low, affecting the generalizability of new treatments. Research shows that many patients face significant challenges in understanding basic clinical trial vocabulary and making informed decisions about participation. Informational aids (IA) are developed to address these challenges and support decision making of cancer clinical trial participation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Health Commun
September 2020
Communicating about clinical trials and medical research is challenging. An appropriate communication is essential to reduce some of the barriers associated with poor patients' enrollment in clinical trials and with patients' uninformed consent or uninformed refusal. An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of educational animations compared to brochures with and without visuals, and with the materials currently used by the NIH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe inclusion of diverse populations in clinical trial research is a social justice imperative. Creating the communicative tools that can support cancer patients across varied cultural backgrounds in processing complex clinical trial information, to achieve informed consent, has been a challenge. This study sought to evaluate specific clinical trial multimedia-a website, four animations, and a decision aid-to meet the decision-making and informational needs of Hispanic patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudies show significant association between cancer risk and being a firefighter. After exposure to even routine firefighting, firefighters' bunker gear often contains carcinogens that may be absorbed through contact or inhaled through off-gassing, thereby increasing cancer risk. Awareness of increased cancer risk has given rise to policies and practices focused on gear cleaning and decontamination processes to decrease risk; yet, these efforts are in their infancy and tend to be somewhat piecemeal in nature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFirefighters are exposed to carcinogens such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during fires and from their personal protective equipment (PPE). Recent research has shown that decontamination processes can reduce contamination on both gear and skin. While firefighter cultures that honor dirty gear are changing, little is known about current attitudes and behaviors toward decontamination in the fire service.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Recent epidemiological research on firefighters indicates an increased incidence of specific types of cancer. Intervention is needed in the fire service yet little is known about how firefighters perceive their cancer risk.
Methods: Participant observation (150 h, n = 100) and focus group (n = 17) data were collected from 15 fire stations in South Florida.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities
April 2018
Clinical trials and research studies often fail to recruit participants from the minorities, hampering the generalizability of results. In order to mitigate this problem, the present study investigated how race/ethnicity affects the process of recruiting people from racial and ethnic minority groups, by conducting 11 focus groups with professional recruiters. Several themes emerged, such as how to adapt to potential participants' language competency and literacy levels, the importance to engage in culturally appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication, and to establish a sense of homophily between recruiters and patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMedical and research professionals who discuss clinical trials and research studies with potential participants face an often daunting challenge, particularly when recruiting from minority and underserved populations. This study reports on findings from a focus group study of 63 research coordinators, study nurses, professional recruiters, and other professionals in Indianapolis, IN and Miami, FL who work to recruit from minority and underserved populations. These professionals discussed the importance of creating a sense of connection with potential participants as part of the recruitment and retention process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Research indicates that mood-based motivations may be an important predictor of indoor tanning bed use and may be related to indoor tanning dependence. Problematically, little research has been conducted to develop a psychometric measure of mood-based tanning motivations. The current study seeks to develop and validate the moodbased indoor tanning scale (MITS).
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