Research Participants Perceptions of Their Experience in Clinical Studies

The conduct of high quality clinical research is dependent on the ability to recruit and retain subjects who are invested in, understand, and have confidence in the clinical research process. Understanding subjects experiences as research volunteers is critical to the continual improvement of the processes of clinical research and, subsequently, to enhancing the subject s experience. Heretofore, studies evaluating the subject s comprehension of the informed consent process have served as, at best, an indirect measure of the quality of the subject s experience. Few, if any, studies have assessed the quality and efficacy of the entire clinical research process from the subject s perspective. This study is the first phase of a two-part study designed to directly measure research participants perceptions of all aspects of the clinical research process (e.g., recruitment, informed consent, education, autonomy and subject's rights, provision of clinical care) for the purposes of improving the clinical research subject s experience.

Obtaining robust, validated data requires a partnership between those with expertise in the design and analysis of surveys, and those who can articulate the needs of research participants and improve the way in which clinical research is conducted. For the former, we will be greatly advantaged by our partnership with NRC Picker, which has committed the resources necessary to assist the survey project development; conduct the focus groups, telephone interviews, and expert advisory group sessions required to further optimize the survey; collaborate in the analysis; and fund the second-stage formal validation of the survey. For the latter, we have assembled a collaborative team of research professionals from the CTSA award recipient centers, and interested GCRCs, with expertise in human subject protections, research ethics, research conduct, education and performance improvement.

The current study entails the recruitment and conduct of up to a total of 22 Focus Groups, each consisting of either 8-10 research subjects (12-16 groups) or 6-10 research professionals (6 groups), in order achieve the first goal: to assess the key dimensions of the research experience upon which to test the second part of the research, a perception of the research experience survey. The current study will involve 8-11 academic medical centers, enrolling a total of 100-128 research subjects, and 45-60 research professionals in total. A second goal of the project is to describe the process, obstacles and successes of implementing a multi-center protocol across the GCRCs and the CTSA consortium. A subsequent research protocol will concern the fielding and validation of that survey in approximately 3,700 subjects at up to 10 academic medical centers (CTSA and GCRC awardees).