Project Lead: Anand Dhruva (Education Program)
Key Team Members: Patty Moran, Maria Chao, Rick Hecht (Research Program)
Brief Project Description: A majority of integrative health research has included well educated, high income, White patient populations. This project proposes addressing language, logistical, and literacy barriers to improve research recruitment in diverse populations. This will supplement an existing study testing the multi-site feasibility of an Ayurvedic medicine intervention compared to health education. A key goal of that study is to recruit underrepresented patients (i.e., patients currently poorly represented in integrative health research). We recently conducted qualitative interviews with underrepresented patients to identify barriers to participation. Underrepresented patients felt that more time and explanation is needed to describe study participation. Participants identified logistical barriers to participation (e.g., transportation, parking) and for some technological barriers. Language barriers may also play a role (e.g., English as a second language). In this IHE small grant, we propose to test impact of addressing the above identified barriers on study participation among underrepresented patients.
Brief Statement of Project Feasibility and Anticipated Impact: Underrepresented patient populations are poorly represented in research studies, which limits their access to integrative health practices and negatively affects the quality of research. Our prior qualitative work provides a clear direction for the proposed work in this grant. By addressing barriers to participation, we will be able to contribute to the literature on ways to improve inclusion of underrepresented patients in integrative health research. The results of this work may inform the design and implementation of other integrative health research – especially projects involving complex whole systems of medicine. This project can be completed by June 30, 2026 as this aligns with our recruitment timeline for the existing study. The project involves members of the UCSF Osher Center Research and Education Programs and faculty and staff at zSFG. More broadly, this advances research on Ayurvedic medicine, a historically marginalized system of medicine.
Total Budget Requested: $20,000
Comments
This is such an important
This is such an important direction for supporting inclusive participation in clinical trials. What kinds of barriers are you expecting to address and how, with these funds?
Agree, the lessons learned
Agree, the lessons learned from executing this initiative will no doubt contribute to future integrative health trials! Also agree it would be interesting to learn more about the barriers that have been identified as good targets for this intervention - but also if it seems like it's many barriers on top of each other that contribute to someone not participating in the trial - or if there is a main barrier to attack? Also, is there a target number of patients to recruit and/or attempt to address the barriers for? Curious also if the likelihood of participating in ayurvedic trials differ by medical condition, and/or if that would impact the target population for this as well?
Hi Ariana and Dorothy,Thanks
Hi Ariana and Dorothy,
Thanks for these comments and questions. As you know, this is a complex area where there has been significant research. Many barriers are difficult to overcome. As it relates to this work, we are aiming to stay within the framework of our prior work with this patient population. Our qualitive research has helped to identify a few areas that we would like to target with the proposed research. For example, we know that there is a distrust of the medical system due to many factors, including a history of coercion and "experimentation" on people of color by the biomedical system. This is real and something that we have to overcome since we are operating in the framework of biomedicine (even if we are trying to shake up that framework with our research). On a practical level, this means being able to spend more time with prospective participants to explain the research and having specific areas to cover in that conversation. Our qualitative work has suggested directions for those conversations.
Anand