ASPO Abstracts
Engaging Linguistically and Ethnically Diverse Low Income Women in Health Research: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Category: Cancer Health Disparities, Behavioral Science & Health Communication
Conference Year: 2018
Abstract Body:
Underserved breast cancer patients and survivors are typically offered fewer opportunities to participate in research. In the context of a community-based participatory research project, we developed the Health Research Engagement Intervention (HREI), a one-on-one navigator-client education session that emphasizes the range of clinical trials and non-treatment studies (“health research”) available to breast cancer patients and survivors. The HREI provides participants (navigated clients at a community organization, Shanti) with a laminated card that highlights resources, such as Breast Cancer Trials.org (BCT) that support health research information-seeking activities. We conducted a randomized controlled trial, comparing the HREI (intervention) to the information card alone (control). Pre- and post-intervention surveys measured the primary outcome of health research information- seeking behavior. Secondary outcomes included health research knowledge, attitudes towards research participation, and health empowerment. 133 Shanti clients participated, including 59 who spoke English, 48 Cantonese, and 26 Spanish. 130 completed both pre- and post-test surveys. Almost 1/3 of participants in both arms reported having talked to someone about health research or having called a telephone number or visited a website listed on the card (30% vs. 30%, p=0.94). On average the change from pre- to post-test in a 5-item knowledge score, adjusted for pre-test knowledge, was greater in the intervention group than in the control group (p=0.028). The proportion of participants who were very confident that they could find health research information (had health empowerment) remained essentially unchanged in both study arms. Women were more likely to seek information if they had higher pre-test knowledge scores (OR=3.5 per item, 95% CI 1.5-8.4) or a greater increase in knowledge from pre- to post-test (OR=2.2 per item, 95% CI 1.1-4.7); there was no association between information-seeking and health empowerment (OR=0.6, 95% CI 0.2-2.5) or study arm (OR=1.6, 95% CI 0.5-4.9). The HREI had a positive impact on knowledge of health research but did not significantly affect health empowerment or health research information-seeking behavior.
Keywords: Clinical Trials Recruitment, Clinical Trials Participation Breast Cancer Disparities