Talking about your options can help you to feel comfortable with your decision. If you decide to enroll your child, be sure to ask for a copy of the informed consent documents so you can review them at any time. Remember informed consent is more than signing a form. It is a process that continues through the study. You should feel free to ask the research team questions before, during and after the study.
All clinical trials have guidelines about who can get into the program.
Guidelines are based on such factors as age, type of disease, medical history and current medical condition. Before your child joins a clinical trial, she must qualify for the study. Some research studies seek volunteers with illnesses or conditions to be studied in the trial, while others need healthy volunteers. Healthy volunteers participate in Phase I trials, vaccine studies and trials on research on preventive care. The factors that allow your child to participate are called inclusion criteria and the factors that keep your child from participating are called exclusion criteria.