Perceptions of Barriers and Facilitators to Participation in Clinical Trials on HIV- Positive Latinas : A Pilot Study 1 . Observation Since 1985 , there was an increase of HIV /AIDS infection among Latina women yet only a few of them seek medical help . Thus , they were poorly represented in the HIV /AIDS clinical trials (Zusiga , 2007 , p . 1323 .2 . Hypothesis If the lack of Latina representation in clinical trials is related to the presence of institutional barriers and facilitators , then service providers and recruitment staff ‘s understanding and knowledge of what these barriers and facilitators are will aid in the increase of Latina representation in clinical trials .3 . Experimental Design /Data Collection Conducted separate content surveys with three groups : 1 ) HIV-positive Latina patients and 2 ) HIV providers , and 3 ) clinical trials recruitment staff . The survey was conducted in two phases , phase I was for 40 HIV patients , phase II was for 10 social service providers and 4 recruitment staff . The survey and data collection occurred in two phases starting from December 2003 and ends in April 2004 (Zusiga , 2007 ,pp .1323-1324 .4 ) Data Analysis Results The response of the survey was the basis for the descriptive and content analysis of the study . Significantly , Fisher ‘s exact test (2 sided ) was used to analyze the responses between the patients who had participated in a clinical trial before and those who did not . The result for Barriers showed that 62 .5 of Latina patient ‘s prime reasons for ignoring clinical trials were due to “fear , ignorance of the disease and denial . The service providers (70 ) believed that transportation was the main reason while 50 of recruiters stated that lack of information was the problem . Results for Facilitators in participation ,on the other hand , revealed that Latina patients (35 ) will participate for “self-help ‘ and 65 of them wanted it to be conducted in a clinic .Providers (40 ) agree that self-help will encourage the patients to participate while 50 of recruiters said friends referred them for clinical trial (Zusiga , 2007 , pp . 1325-1327 .5 ) Conclusion Respondents have different perceptions as to the reason why Latina patients do not report for clinical trials and what are the facilitators for their participation . These differences affect the way recruitment and services are carried out and how the Latinas responded to it (Zusiga , 2007 , pp 1328-1329 .6 ) Application The results of the survey should resolve the differences in perceptions between HIV Latina patients , service providers and recruitment staff regarding the reason why there was lack of representation of Latina patients in clinical trials . The results of the survey will guide the service providers in adapting methods that will increase Latina patient participation in clinical trial (Zusiga , 2007 , p . 1329 .Reference :Zusiga , Maria Luisa and et . al (2007 . Perceptions of Barriers and Facilitators to Participation in Clinical Trials on HIV- Positive Latinas : A Pilot Study . Journal of Women ‘s Health , Vol . 16 . pp .1322-1330 . Retrieved February 23 , 2008 from Academic Search Complete Database .Article (Click PDF Full Text ) HYPERLINK “http /search .ebscohost…

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