White Gretchen E, Proulx Chelsea N, Morone Natalia E, Murrell Audrey J, Rubio Doris M
Institute for Clinical Research Education, University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
General Internal Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
J Clin Transl Sci. 2021 Aug 25;5(1):e185. doi: 10.1017/cts.2021.843. eCollection 2021.
The Building Up Trial is a cluster-randomized trial that aims to address the issue of the leaky career pathway for underrepresented (UR) faculty in biomedical fields. Regulatory approval and recruitment for the Building Up Trial took place during the COVID-19 pandemic and the anti-racism movement. The pandemic and anti-racism movement personally and professionally impacted the target population and made recruitment challenging at both the institution and participant level. The target sample size for this study was 208 postdoctoral fellows or early-career faculty across 26 predominately white institutions. Challenges and adaptations are described. The Building Up Trial was delayed by 3 months. In total, 225 participants from 26 institutions were enrolled. Participants are predominately female (80%), Hispanic/Latinx (34%) or non-Hispanic/Latinx Black (33%), and early-career faculty (53%). At the institution level, obtaining Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval through a single Institutional Review Board (sIRB) posed the biggest challenge. We adapted to COVID-19-related challenges through simplifying sIRB forms, modifying study practices, and increasing communication with institutions. Recruiting UR postdoctoral fellows and faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-racism movement was challenging but not impossible. Studies should be prepared to modify study and recruitment policies to overcome additional barriers posed by the pandemics.
“助力成长试验”是一项整群随机试验，旨在解决生物医学领域代表性不足（UR）的教职员工职业发展途径不畅的问题。“助力成长试验”的监管审批和招募工作在新冠疫情和反种族主义运动期间进行。疫情和反种族主义运动在个人和职业层面影响了目标人群，给机构和参与者层面的招募工作带来了挑战。本研究的目标样本量为来自26所主要为白人的机构的208名博士后或早期职业教职员工。文中描述了所面临的挑战及采取的调整措施。“助力成长试验”推迟了3个月。总共招募了来自26所机构的225名参与者。参与者主要为女性（80%）、西班牙裔/拉丁裔（34%）或非西班牙裔/拉丁裔黑人（33%），以及早期职业教职员工（53%）。在机构层面，通过单一机构审查委员会（sIRB）获得机构审查委员会（IRB）的批准是最大的挑战。我们通过简化sIRB表格、修改研究实践以及加强与机构的沟通来应对与新冠疫情相关的挑战。在新冠疫情和反种族主义运动期间招募代表性不足的博士后和教职员工具有挑战性，但并非不可能。研究应做好准备，修改研究和招募政策，以克服疫情带来的额外障碍。
