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Journal of the National Medical Association logoLink to Journal of the National Medical Association
. 2007 Sep;99(9):1052–1060.

Willingness of minorities to participate in biomedical studies: confirmatory findings from a follow-up study using the Tuskegee Legacy Project Questionnaire.

Ralph V Katz 1, B Lee Green 1, Nancy R Kressin 1, Cristina Claudio 1, Min Qi Wang 1, Stefanie L Russell 1
PMCID: PMC2139897  NIHMSID: NIHMS35372  PMID: 17913117

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this analysis were to compare the self-reported willingness of blacks, Puerto-Rican Hispanics and whites to participate as research subjects in biomedical studies, and to determine the reliability of the Tuskegee Legacy Project Questionnaire (TLP). METHODS: The TLP Questionnaire, initially used in a four-city study in 1999-2000, was administered in a follow-up study within a random-digit-dial telephone survey to a stratified random sample of adults in three different U.S. cities: Baltimore, MD; New York City; and San Juan, PR. The questionnaire, a 60-item instrument, contains two validated scales: the Likelihood of Participation (LOP) Scale and the Guinea Pig Fear Factor (GPFF) Scale. RESULTS: Adjusting for age, sex, education, income and city, the LOP Scale was not statistically significantly different for the racial/ethnic groups (ANCOVA, p=87). The GPFF Scale was statistically significantly higher for blacks and Hispanics as compared to whites (adjusted ANCOVA, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The of the findings from the current three-city study, as well as from our prior four-city study, are remarkably similar and reinforce the conclusion that blacks and Hispanics self-report that, despite having a higher fear of participation, they are just as likely as whites to participate in biomedical research.

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Selected References

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