A Clinical Trials Recruitment Education Program for Immigrant Chinese Americans

This study was designed to develop and evaluate a community-based education program to facilitate enrollment of immigrant Chinese into clinical cancer screening trials. The program included workshops with culturally tailored health education materials. It was piloted to recruit persons into an ongoing lung cancer screening trial from a senior citizen center in Manhattan's Chinatown and compared with a control program at a second senior center. Survey results from a convenience sample of seniors showed that the workshop raised awareness about cancer screening and clinical trials. However, it did not change attitudes towards cancer screening. The results highlighted prior focus group findings in which factors influencing participation in cancer screening and clinical trials are similar. Important facilitative factors include doctor recommendation, friend/family recommendation, the belief that early detection could “save lives,” no cost, and having an-interpreter.