International Encyclopedia of Health Communication

recruiting-the-underserved.png

The KTB is dedicated to doing our part to ensure that women of color are robustly represented in our samples. This task falls on Kathi Ridley Merriweather, who is hyper-focused on community outreach and recruitment to our clinical trial. Below is a recent encyclopedia entry written by Kathi, which will be published in the newest edition of the International Encyclopedia of Health Communication

Recruiting Underrepresented Groups to Clinical Trials

Although underrepresented populations’ cultures differ from each other, these groups do share some characteristics and concerns about medical research, causing hesitancy and low clinical trial participation levels. To better benefit the health of marginalized populations, it is important to apply health communication strategies to increase clinical trial participation levels. This entry briefly describes some of the history, barriers to clinical trial participation, and particular cultural concerns of numerous underserved populations. It also suggests several health communication research strategies to respectfully address the valid cultural hesitancies of all underserved and underrepresented groups in efforts to increase their willingness to take part in clinical trials.

To read the full article/entry, please click here.