Improving Diversity In Clinical Research Through Community Engagement

Diversity in clinical research, while better than it once was, is still a major challenge impacting groups from rural communities to varying genders and ethnicities. For example, as reported in a study published by PLOS Medicine, Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx research participation total approximately 10% of all trial participants even though racial and ethnic minorities make up almost 40% of the population in the United States.

The current clinical research system is full of barriers that prevent certain populations from access to clinical trials. But what if instead of trying to get underrepresented communities to come to research, research came to them?

Enabling Community-Based Research To Increase Diversity In Clinical Trials

Community-based research is the act of involving local healthcare practices in clinical trials, such as engaging a small, community clinic or trusted physician’s practice in research rather than exclusively running trials at large research centers or sprawling hospitals. In addition to improving overall access to research participation, community-based research greatly increases study diversity. The barriers between underrepresented communities and clinical research participation run the gamut from logistics, like travel time and cost, to cultural differences, such as a community’s definition of health and illness and their privacy preferences surrounding those concepts. But perhaps the biggest barrier is trust. Do patients trust those approaching them about research participation? If not, how can they trust participation won’t do them or their communities harm?