Abstract 1942: Effectiveness of community outreach/engagement and faith-based strategies among African American & African Nationals to increase cancer clinical trials participation using a culturally tailored educational manual
Authors: Baezconde-Garbanati Lourdes A. , Aristizabal Carolina , Ibarra Eduardo , Quince Cynthia 
Published: April 2023

Background: The importance of diversity in clinical trials is vital to ensure treatments and medications work and respond well for everyone. In contrast to other ethnic groups, AAs are disproportionately affected by various types of cancers in the U.S., such as prostate & pancreatic cancer, and have higher cancer mortality rates. Yet AA participation in cancer clinical trials remains extremely low. Black/African Americans make up 13.4% of the US population and have a clinical trial enrollment rate of less than 5%. In comparison, White/Caucasians make up about 67% of the US population and have a 75% enrollment rate in clinical trials and the Asian community makes up less than 6% of US population and have a 15% participation rate in clinical trials. Reported factors that have influenced Black/African American clinical trials enrollment rates are little awareness of clinical trials, religious beliefs, and access to health care barriers. Improving clinical trial participation among African Americans/African Nationals (AA/AN) is essential to reduce cancer health disparities because it gives opportunity to increased access to breakthrough cancer therapies and treatments.

Methods: To address these disparities, we composed an AA/AN Clinical Trials manual to be distributed among these populations living in Los Angeles County (LAC). The AA/AN manual modules review: 1) Intro to Clinical Trials 2) Demographics 3) Types of clinical trials 4) Phases of clinical trials 5) Safety of clinical trials 6) The role of faith among AA communities and 7) Life during and after clinical trials. There is also a Call to Action to share the manual information with friends and family, to talk with one’s primary care physician and get screened, and to participate in clinical trials. The manual was culturally and linguistically adapted to deliver lay messages on clinical trials as needed, using graphs, infographics, and educational videos featuring clinical trials cancer researchers and experts.

Results: 90 Churches in Los Angeles County serving AA/AN communities have been provided with avirtual copy of the Clinical Trials manual to be disseminated among their communities. Additionally, have participated in 7 major community health events in LAC to outreach and engage African American community members at which we have distributed 822 hard copy clinical trials manuals between November of 2021 and November of 2022.

Conclusion: Involvement of faith-based communities in outreach and engagement strategies mayincrease cancer clinical trials participation among African American communities. The utilization of culturally sensitive and adapted educational materials may increase access to information on clinical trials and contribute to tackle clinical trials enrollment barriers affecting underserved minorities.

Citation Format: Lourdes A. Baezconde-Garbanati, Carolina Aristizabal, Eduardo Ibarra, Cynthia Quince. Effectiveness of community outreach/engagement and faith-based strategies among African American & African Nationals to increase cancer clinical trials participation using a culturally tailored educational manual [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 1942.