Overcoming Mistrust in Clinical Trial Enrollment Through Community Resources: Susan Vadaparampil, PhD, MPH

Susan Vadaparampil, PhD, MPH, of Moffitt Cancer Center, continues her conversation with The American Journal of Managed Care® at last month’s Institute for Value-Based Medicine® event in Tampa, Florida, by discussing the impact of mistrust on clinical trial participation and how health care workers can help bridge these gaps.

Watch part 1 to learn more about barriers to clinical trial enrollment.

This transcript was lightly edited; captions were auto-generated.

Transcript

Mistrust also remains a major barrier to trial participation. In your experience, what are the most common sources of patient mistrust?

Also very important and something our team works on on a daily basis. We actually have a project that's currently in the field, where, to date, since September 2024, we've reached over 500 people through 30+ community education sessions focused on clinical trials. What we found, even with this most recent data over the past year, is that some of the barriers to mistrust have not changed.

That is, concern about historical abuses that have happened in medical research that are still prevalent in some communities, so acknowledging that exists. Another is the current political climate and concerns about providing information, seeking care, and how that information may then be used by other sources.

An interesting one that I hadn't heard before is a perception that the focus for diversity in trials is because hospitals need to reach a quota, and it's not necessarily that we care about a particular community. Those are some examples of myths that are out there that I think with education, relationship building, and getting to trust, we could actually overcome.

How can patient navigators, community health workers, or peer advocates help bridge these gaps?

These are wonderful resources in our community. When an institution has patient navigator, peer navigator, or community health educator types of roles, those individuals are going out into the community, and they are our center's presence in the community.

So, we don't just go when we need something; we go to be part of that community. As part of being part of that community, we bring information about cancer screening, early detection, and clinical trials. They become a trusted face and resource within the community so that when an individual faces a cancer diagnosis, they think of that person and their institution first. So, really critical folks.