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Clinical trials-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among Black and Latina women: A randomized controlled trial of the Women United: Clinical Trials and the Fight Against Breast Cancer Program

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A Correction to this article was published on 25 April 2022

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Abstract

Black and Latino adult cancer patients are underrepresented in cancer clinical trials, which limits generalizability of findings and amplifies disparities in healthcare access and outcomes. Community-level education programs designed to address barriers to participation could improve representation in cancer clinical trials. Through a community–campus partner framework, this study evaluated the Women United: Clinical Trials and the Fight Against Breast Cancer Program in Spanish and English. Participants were 422 women (141 Black, 140 Latina Spanish preference, 141 Latina English preference) who were randomized to view either the intervention (n = 215) or a control (n = 207) program. Assessments of clinical trials knowledge and barriers to clinical trials participation were taken before and after viewing. Results suggested that clinical trials knowledge increased and perceived barriers to participation decreased for those who viewed the educational program. More specifically, those in the intervention condition perceived fewer barriers related to personal benefits, mistrust, and familiarity of clinical trials. As expected, there were no differences in perceived barriers related to community support for either condition. Participants in both conditions were equally likely to join a subsequent study or a clinical trials community ambassador program. There were no differences in any of the outcomes across ethnicity or language, suggesting the program works equivalently across groups. This program is easy to administer and can be recommended for use among Black and Latina women to address factors related to clinical trials participation.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Code Availability

The SPSS code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Notes

  1. A descriptive table containing the pre- and post-test results for clinical trials knowledge, barriers, and behavioral outcomes for the intervention and control conditions by ethnicity/language is available from the authors on request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all the participants who gave their time to

voluntarily join this study. The authors also thank the following organizations for their assistance with recruitment: North County Latina Association, North County African American Women's Association, Friendly Church of God in Christ. The authors also wish to acknowledge Courtney Carter, Viridiana Conde, Erika Sosa, and Daphne Summers-Torres from the Vista Community Clinic, and undergraduate students who assisted with this study: Cecilia Bess, Kadie Harry, Anna-Michelle McSorley, Abraham Nguyen, Lisa Nguyen, Anthony Orona, Jessica Petzold, Vincenzo Roma, and DeAna Thomas.

Funding

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, California State University, Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria Street, Carson, CA, 90747, USA

    Erin L. Merz

  2. Vista Community Clinic, Vista, USA

    Natasha E. Riley

  3. SDSU/UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, San Diego, USA

    Vanessa L. Malcarne & Georgia Robins Sadler

  4. San Diego State University, San Diego, USA

    Vanessa L. Malcarne

  5. UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, USA

    Vanessa L. Malcarne & Georgia Robins Sadler

Authors
  1. Erin L. Merz
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  2. Natasha E. Riley
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  3. Vanessa L. Malcarne
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  4. Georgia Robins Sadler
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erin L. Merz.

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Ethics Approval

Ethics approval was obtained through the local institutional review boards at [redacted for blind review].

Consent to Participate

All participants provided written informed consent.

Consent for Publication

Not applicable. Data are de-identified and presented in pooled form.

Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interest

None declared.

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The original version of this article was revised. The co-author Vanessa Malcarne’s ORCID number is 0000-0002-7526-9982.

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Merz, E.L., Riley, N.E., Malcarne, V.L. et al. Clinical trials-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among Black and Latina women: A randomized controlled trial of the Women United: Clinical Trials and the Fight Against Breast Cancer Program. J Canc Educ 37, 874–881 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-022-02162-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-022-02162-y

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