REPRESENT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring Barriers to Recruiting Underrepresented Groups to Bladder and Head & Neck Oncology Trials: A Mixed-methods Approach to Increasing Representation
IRAS ID
336160
Contact name
Georgiana Synesi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Institute of Cancer Research
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
When running a clinical trial, it is important that the participants reflect the wider population. In order to make cancer clinical trials more inclusive, we first need to understand who is being given the opportunity to participate, and who is accepting this opportunity. This will help us to identify any groups of people who are often being denied or choosing to decline this opportunity.
This is a multi-stage mixed-methods study involving newly diagnosed patients with bladder or head & neck cancer, and the members of hospital staff involved in their care/trial recruitment as participants. The study will primarily be run in Liverpool/Aintree, with the potential to also be run in London.
In stage 1, demographic data will be extracted from the hospital notes of all patients being seen in clinic during the study period so that the whole population can be described. Patients will then be invited to participate in the study where they will be asked to complete a questionnaire collecting more detailed demographic data. Hospital staff will be invited to complete a similar questionnaire to see if there is any link between staff and the types of patients they recruit to trials. A subset of these participants will be invited to an interview with the lead researcher to explore barriers and facilitators to representative recruitment to clinical trials. We will also observe multi-disciplinary team meetings (or equivalent) and patient-doctor consultations. This mixed-methods approach will help us to learn more about the decisions patients and hospital staff make about clinical trials.
In stage 2 we will run focus groups with different stakeholders to co-design recruitment interventions to increase the representation of identified underserved groups in clinical trials.
In stage 3, the intervention will be piloted. All stakeholders will be consulted to introduce and evaluate the intervention.
REC name
London - Fulham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/LO/0406
Date of REC Opinion
15 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion