Table 2.
Qualitative Analysisa
| Research Question | Salient Themes | Quotes | Black/White Differences |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is patient's race relevant in clinical decision-making? | Physicians believed that race is a complex and poorly defined concept. | “Plus there's no certain line about what race is... | Black physicians explored the socio-economic influences on health and their relationship with race for longer periods than did white physicians. |
| Physicians’ views of medical relevance of race varied | “So, I don't understand how you can practice race neutral medicine in a non-race neutral world” | White physicians were more likely to describe race as a culturally sensitive issue. | |
| Physicians contended that race is one of many factors in decision-making. | “There are so many different factors. To me race is just one of the many of them.” | Black physicians referred to their own practice experiences when discussing socio-economic influences to a greater extent than white physicians. | |
| | |||
| What are the relationships between race, genetics and disease? | Physicians were reticent to make the three-way connection among race, genetics and disease. | “...But we're lacking the tool, the science tool, to really focus in on the question of specific DNA variations that account for different outcomes and different diseases in various groups of people.” | Black physicians were more likely to question whether genetic research was the most productive way to examine racial disparities in health. |
| Physicians noted that most racial disparities in disease are not explained by genetics. | “I think there is a portion of it that's genetics but particularly with things like cancer, I'm going to say that I think most of it is probably environmental in access to care and treatment differences.” | ||
| | |||
| What is expected from the future of genomic medicine? | Physicians are excited and hopeful about the promises of “personalized medicine,” | “...And the exciting thing, I think, that makes this whole thing really fun is that within our lifetime, we're going to have things that start to make biologically different sense. We don't have them now. But it's going to be fun.” | No differences were found between Black and White physicians. |
| Physicians agreed that genetics may supersede the use of race in clinical decision-making. | “...And if I could genetically test my patients, doesn't that supersede knowing their race?” | ||
| Physicians expressed concern about potential negative consequences of genomic medicine. | “I think if you're going to use it for good, then, that's wonderful. But...” | ||
a
Representative quotes were selected through a three part process. The core analysis team selected 6-8 quotes for each theme, then the entire review team assessed the quotes, mindful of variability across speakers and geographic region; last the core team reexamined each quote within context of the statements immediately before and after. Only quotes agreed upon by the entire research team were determined to be representative.