Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 20, 2026
14:43
A Novel Method for Involving Women of Color at High Risk for Preterm Birth in Research Priority Setting
Published on: January 12, 2018
Drivers of Research Participation Among Racially and Ethnically Underrepresented Women: Insights from Semi-Structured
Kylie Finkelstein1, Anika Heuberger1, Gabrielle Ramos2
1College of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
|June 18, 2026
Summary
Improving clinical trial diversity requires understanding participation barriers for underrepresented women. Addressing trust, safety, and recruitment strategies is key to inclusive research and generalizable findings.
Area of Science:
- Clinical research participation
- Health disparities
- Underrepresented populations
Background:
- Underrepresented racial and ethnic communities have low clinical research participation rates.
- This disparity impacts research generalizability and exacerbates health inequities.
- Understanding these factors is crucial for equitable health outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify factors influencing clinical trial participation among underrepresented women.
- To gather community-informed suggestions for enhancing their involvement in research.
Main Methods:
- Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with women in the WARRIOR trial.
- The Socio-Ecological Model guided interviews, which were analyzed using deductive content analysis.
- Consensus coding identified themes related to participation influences and barriers.
Main Results:
- Participants cited desire to help others, compensation, and physician recommendations as motivations.
- Barriers included transportation, language, understanding, privacy, medication fears, and healthcare mistrust.
- Physician recommendations positively influenced enrollment; trusted sources are preferred for recruitment.
Conclusions:
- Understanding participant attitudes is essential for increasing diversity and generalizability in clinical research.
- Community-informed strategies addressing recruitment, trust, and safety concerns are vital for inclusivity.
- Ensuring research reflects target populations requires addressing specific barriers faced by underrepresented groups.
Related Concept Videos
02:16Surveys
Often, psychologists develop surveys as a means of gathering data. Surveys are lists of questions to be answered by research participants, and can be delivered as paper-and-pencil questionnaires, administered electronically, or conducted verbally. Generally, the survey itself can be completed in a short time, and the ease of administering a survey makes it easy to collect data from a large number of people.
02:55Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Humans are very diverse and although we share many similarities, we also have many differences. The social groups we belong to help form our identities (Tajfel, 1974). These differences may be difficult for some people to reconcile, which may lead to prejudice toward people who are different. Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice is common against people who are...
01:27Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture
Adolescents from ethnic minority backgrounds face a multifaceted journey in forming their identities, shaped by the intersections of cultural expectations and personal exploration. For these adolescents, identity formation involves not only typical developmental challenges but also navigating the perceptions and attitudes of the majority culture. As they grow, adolescents in ethnic minority groups often become increasingly aware of stereotypes, social biases, and discrimination, all of which...
02:20Longitudinal Research
Sometimes we want to see how people change over time, as in studies of human development and lifespan. When we test the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period of time, we are conducting longitudinal research. Longitudinal research is a research design in which data-gathering is administered repeatedly over an extended period of time. For example, we may survey a group of individuals about their dietary habits at age 20, retest them a decade later at age 30, and then again...
01:56Ethics in Research
Today, scientists agree that good research is ethical in nature and is guided by a basic respect for human dignity and safety. However, this has not always been the case. Modern researchers must demonstrate that the research they perform is ethically sound.
01:50Cross-Sectional Research
In cross-sectional research, a researcher compares multiple segments of the population at the same time. If they were interested in people's dietary habits, the researcher might directly compare different groups of people by age. Instead of following a group of people for 20 years to see how their dietary habits changed from decade to decade, the researcher would study a group of 20-year-old individuals and compare them to a group of 30-year-old individuals and a group of 40-year-old...