Abstract
Introduction: It is important to provide community members ‐ especially those from traditionally underserved groups ‐ with equitable opportunities to participate in research. Volunteer registries have been employed to generate pools of potential participants. However, we know little about factors associated with participation in such registries.
Procedures: Bilingual research staff approached persons aged 18 and over attending the VIVA Dallas! Hispanic Exposition August 8–9, 2009, asking if they would complete a one‐page health topics survey and receive, in return, a water bottle with our cancer center's logo. The survey, available in Spanish and English, measured age, sex, marital and parental status, race/ethnicity, country of birth, acculturation (Marin and Marin's 4‐item scale), insurance coverage, access to and place of usual health care, and health topics of concern. One item asked, “May we contact you in the future for research studies?” and provided space for contact information for those who checked “yes”.
Data: The 1,183 survey completers were 64% female, 77% Hispanic, and 68% married or living as married. Most were parents (69%), ≤ 50 years old (68%), and were born outside the US (57%). Scores on the 4‐item acculturation scale classified 45% with lower acculturation and 36% with higher acculturation; scores could not be calculated for the 19% with missing data. Some type of insurance coverage was reported by 40% (with 19% missing) and 43% reported access to usual health care (with 17% missing). Most frequently cited health topics of concern were diabetes (53%), healthy eating (32%) and managing stress (31%). Cancer was mentioned by 20%, with breast being the most‐cited cancer type. Overall, 63% indicated agreement to be contacted for future studies. Agreement was significantly associated (all p<.01) with: age less than 50, female sex, having ever been married, being the parent of at least one child, Hispanic ethnicity, birth outside the US, lower acculturation score, no insurance coverage, and no place for usual health care.
Conclusions: Among attendees at Dallas' largest Hispanic community event, interest in completing the survey was high. The majority of survey completers (63%) agreed to be contacted for future studies. People most likely to agree to future contact represented groups often not included in studies ‐ those born outside the US, with lower acculturation scores, and no health insurance or source of regular health care. Use of registries generated through community events such as VIVA Dallas! may help to address disparities in access to and participation in cancer control research.
Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(1 Suppl):B22.
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