September 2007, Volume 4 Issue 4

"Education before Participation" is Formula for Success

When the San Diego chapter of the Society of Clinical Research Associates (SOCRA) needed someone to talk about the concerns of clinical trial volunteers, they knew who to call: Vical Inc. Executive Director of Oncology Clinical Operations Linda G. Strause, Ph.D. With more than 20 years experience in human subject protection, many as chair of the Institutional Review Board for San Diego Hospice’s Center for Palliative Studies, Strause is an outspoken advocate for patient education as key to clinical research’s success. The CISCRP Advisory Board member was delighted to bring the organization’s message to colleagues in the field.

Noting that patient recruitment is the biggest challenge to clinical research today, Strause informed her listeners about some of the realities they face:

• 74 percent of people say they have no ‘real’ knowledge of the clinical research process and 98 percent don’t know where and how to identify and evaluate appropriate clinical studies; 
• 75 percent of the public distrust information they receive from clinical research professionals;
• Only 10 percent of people eligible to participate in clinical trials do so.

With widespread media attention to clinical research’s highly publicized failures, Strause believes many people remain unaware of the benefits of clinical trials. That’s where participant education can help turn things around.

“We need to educate the public so they ask the right questions and think a little harder about what they’re doing when they enroll in a clinical trial,” she explains. Ensuring that clinical trial participants, “understand the protocols, ask questions, and make educated, knowledgeable choices,” will benefit all.

As the demand for new, more sophisticated treatments grows, the need for an active, informed and educated pool of participants continues to increase. CISCRP and its supporters are ready for the challenge. Expansion of the Aware for All program and a multi-faceted array of communications vehicles are helping the organization convey its message to a wide audience, while Strause and other Board members take a more personal approach. Strause, for one, has recently championed CISCRP’s work to San Diego social workers, research administrators, the local chapter of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) , and the ACRP Global Conference and Exhibition in Seattle. She plans to slip in “a little pitch” for the organization at a contracts and budget conference she’s chairing in September.

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