1 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
2 Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Doha, Qatar.
Clin Trials. 2017 Oct;14(5):518-525. doi: 10.1177/1740774517717722. Epub 2017 Jul 11.
BACKGROUND/AIMS: Cancer clinical trials give patients access to state-of-the-art treatments and facilitate the translation of findings into mainstream clinical care. However, patients from racial and ethnic minority groups remain underrepresented in clinical trials. Primary care physicians are a trusted source of information for patients, yet their role in decision-making about cancer treatment and referrals to trial participation has received little attention. The aim of this study was to determine physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about cancer clinical trials, their experience with trials, and their interest in appropriate training about trials.
A total of 613 physicians in the New York City area primarily serving patients from ethnic and racial minority groups were invited via email to participate in a 20-min online survey. Physicians were asked about their patient population, trial knowledge and attitudes, interest in training, and personal demographics. Using calculated scale variables, we used descriptive statistical analyses to better understand physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about trials.
A total of 127 physicians completed the survey. Overall, they had low knowledge about and little experience with trials. However, they generally had positive attitudes toward trials, with 41.4% indicating a strong interest in learning more about their role in trials, and 35.7% indicating that they might be interested. Results suggest that Black and Latino physicians and those with more positive attitudes and beliefs were more likely to be interested in future training opportunities.
Primary care physicians may be an important group to target in trying to improve cancer clinical trial participation among minority patients. Future work should explore methods of educational intervention for such interested providers.
背景/目的：癌症临床试验为患者提供了最先进的治疗方法，并促进了研究结果转化为主流临床治疗。然而，少数族裔患者在临床试验中仍然代表性不足。初级保健医生是患者的可靠信息来源，但他们在癌症治疗决策和参与试验转诊方面的作用却很少受到关注。本研究旨在确定医生对癌症临床试验的知识、态度和信念，他们的试验经验以及对适当培训的兴趣。
通过电子邮件向纽约市地区的 613 名主要为少数族裔患者服务的医生发出邀请，邀请他们参加一项 20 分钟的在线调查。医生们被问及他们的患者群体、试验知识和态度、对培训的兴趣以及个人人口统计学信息。我们使用计算的量表变量，使用描述性统计分析来更好地理解医生对试验的知识、态度和信念。
共有 127 名医生完成了调查。总体而言，他们对试验的了解程度较低，经验也较少。然而，他们普遍对试验持积极态度，其中 41.4%表示强烈有兴趣了解更多关于他们在试验中的角色，35.7%表示可能有兴趣。结果表明，黑人和拉丁裔医生以及那些态度和信念更为积极的医生更有可能对未来的培训机会感兴趣。
初级保健医生可能是一个重要的目标群体，试图提高少数族裔患者参与癌症临床试验的比例。未来的工作应该探索针对这些有兴趣的医生的教育干预方法。
