Knowledge and attitudes towards clinical trials among women with ovarian cancer: results of the ACTO study

Exploring clinical trials awareness, information access and participation amongst Australians with ovarian cancer: a qualitative study

PURPOSE

Ovarian cancer is associated with advanced stage diagnosis and poor survival rates. Clinical trials are critical for improving both clinical and quality of life outcomes. Challenges exist to clinical trials awareness, information access and participation, but perspectives of Australians with ovarian cancer have not been previously investigated. We aimed to explore clinical trials awareness, information access and participation amongst Australians with ovarian cancer.

METHODS

Utilising an exploratory qualitative approach, women with ovarian cancer participated in online focus groups and interviews between December 2023 and February 2024. Transcripts underwent inductive content analysis.

RESULTS

Five themes and five subthemes emerged. In theme 1, participants identified "Barriers exist that affect clinical trial awareness and participation" and were explored through their experience of ovarian cancer. In theme 2, participants shared that "Instigating the conversation and doing my own research" was necessary to access clinical trials. Theme 3 describes ideas on "Finding solutions to improve clinical trial awareness and information access" through subthemes: "we need a centralised, credible source"; "communicate clinical trials in various ways from trusted contacts"; and "I want tailored, relevant information". Theme 4 explained that "Altruism is a motivator" in willingness to participate in trials. Finally, in theme 5, participants explained that "Emotions regarding clinical trials are varied" illustrated in subthemes: "feeling left behind" and "feeling fortunate".

CONCLUSIONS

These qualitative insights will inform development of a cross-sectional survey for national distribution amongst Australians with ovarian cancer. Results will assist in developing solutions to improve clinical trials awareness and information access.

Survey of willingness to participate in clinical trials and influencing factors among cancer and non-cancer patients

Despite the expanding landscape of clinical trials, there is a lack of study concerning Malaysian patients' participation and perspectives. This study addresses these gaps by assessing patients' willingness, knowledge, perceptions, confidence, and religious barriers related to clinical trial participations at Sarawak General Hospital. We conducted a cross-sectional survey from March to September 2022 on 763 cancer and non-cancer patients. We collected patients' responses and calculated scores for willingness to participate (40.5/100), knowledge (29.9/100), perceived benefits (66.5/100) and risks (72.4/100) of participations, confidence in clinical trial conducts (66.3/100), and religious barriers (49.8/100). The higher scores indicated greater willingness, better knowledge, stronger perceptions of benefits and risk, increased confidence, and stronger religious barriers. Cancer patient demonstrated significantly greater willingness for trials involving new drugs (31.9/100 vs. 27.4/100, p = 0.021) but slightly higher religious barriers compared to non-cancer cohort (51.4/100 vs. 48.3/100, p = 0.006). Multivariable logistic regression identified female gender, unemployment, poor knowledge, low perceived benefits, high perceived risks, and low confidence as significant factors associated with reduced willingness to participate (p < 0.05). This study underscores the challenges in engaging Malaysian patients in clinical trials, particularly in Sarawak, emphasising the need for targeted strategies to raise awareness, effective communication, and enhancing public confidence in clinical trials.

Knowledge and Attitude towards Clinical Trials among General Population of Northern Saudi Arabia during COVID-19 Era: A Cross-Sectional Study

Recruiting and retaining sufficient participants is one of the biggest challenges researchers face while conducting clinical trials (CTs). This is due to the fact of misconceptions and insufficient knowledge concerning CTs among the public. The present cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2021 to May 2022. We evaluated knowledge and attitude among 480 participants using a pretested Arabic questionnaire. The correlation between knowledge and attitude score was tested through Spearman's correlation test, and the logistic regression test evaluated the associated factors for knowledge and attitude. Of the studied participants, 63.5% were male and belonged to the age group less than 30 years (39.6%). Nearly two-thirds (64.6%) of them had never heard of CT. More than half of the participants had poor knowledge (57.1%) and attitude (73.5%) towards CTs. Participants' knowledge scores were significantly associated with education level (p = 0.031) and previous participation in health-related research (p = 0.007). Attitude scores were significantly related to marital status (p = 0.035) and the presence of chronic diseases (p = 0.008). Furthermore, we found a significant positive correlation between knowledge and attitude scores (p < 0.001, Spearman's rho = 0.329). The present study revealed that most of the study population had poor knowledge and moderate attitudes towards CT. Targeted health education programs at different public places are recommended to improve the public's knowledge of the importance of CT participation. In addition, exploratory and mixed-methods surveys in other regions of KSA is required to recognize the region-specific health education needs.

Health Literacy and Clinical Trial Participation in French Cancer Patients: A National Survey

Few studies have explored the relationship between health literacy (HL) and trial participation. In this context, we aimed to study this relationship in French cancer patients. We used data from the French national VIe après le CANcer (VICAN) survey. Two questionnaire items focused on previous invitations to participate in clinical trials and subsequent enrollment. The Single Item Literacy Screener was used to measure functional HL. In total, 1954 cancer patients responded to both VICAN surveys (two and five years after diagnosis). Mean age was 54.1 ± 12.7 years at diagnosis, and 37.6% were classified as having limited HL. One in ten (10.3%) respondents reported having been previously invited to participate in a clinical trial. Of these, 75.5% had enrolled. Limited HL was associated with fewer trial invitations but not with enrollment once invited. Multivariate analysis confirmed the negative effect of limited HL on clinical trial invitation (adjOR = 0.55 (0.39 to 0.77), p < 0.001) after adjustment for multiple characteristics. Patients with limited HL received fewer invitations to participate in trials but were likely to enroll when asked. Addressing HL is necessary to create a more inclusive health system and to reduce inequalities not only in access to innovative cancer care, but to health inequalities in general.