Revista de SIDA e investigación clínica

A Survey on the Willingness of Clinical Research Professionals to Participate in Clinical Research

Abstract

Rania M. Felemban, Soha Elmorsy, Matthew D. Dick and Irwin Martin

Objective: To identify the impact of professional knowledge and education on willingness to participate in clinical trials.

Methods: The study was conducted during January 2017 at Eastern Michigan University, Michigan, United States. It was a cross-sectional quantitative study in which clinical research professionals were invited to complete a shortened version of the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation (CISCRP) survey assessing their willingness to participate in clinical trials. A comparison was made between the sample of this study and the results of the CISCRP survey.

Results: The 83 people who answered the survey represent 20% of the total number of people, which are 415, who were invited to participate. The study found that 80.6% of the survey respondents were willing to participate in clinical trials, significantly less than the results of the CISCRP survey on postgraduates, which found that 96.3% of respondents were willing to participate in clinical trials. In the present study, willingness was significantly higher among females and those with previous clinical trials experience. Willingness to participate correlated positively with perception of clinical trials safety (r=0.503, p<0.001).

Conclusion: Overall, the clinical research professionals were moderately willing to participate in clinical trials but they were less willing to participate in clinical trials than the postgraduate participants of the CISCRP survey. Although some factors such as safety and type of medical intervention must be considered when attempting actual participation, knowledge and professional background affected the willingness to participate in clinical trials. These findings should not discourage efforts to recruit clinical research professionals into clinical trials.