Table 1.
Psychosocial barriers for cancer clinical trial participation presented to stakeholder focus groups.
| 1. Awareness |
| Patients are unaware of clinical trials as a treatment option. |
| 2. General clinical trial knowledge |
| Patients are aware of clinical trials, but do not have an accurate understanding of clinical trial processes (e.g., informed consent, randomization, phase differences). |
| 3. Side effects |
| Patients are fearful of side effects of the treatment received while enrolled in a clinical trial. |
| 4. Randomization |
| Patients are uncomfortable with being randomized to a particular treatment arm in a clinical trial. |
| 5. Placebo |
| Patients are fearful of receiving a placebo as their treatment in a clinical trial. |
| 6. Distrust in medical establishment |
| Patients do not trust that their physician and health care team have the patients’ best interests in mind when conducting clinical trials. |
| 7. Fear of being used as a Guinea pig |
| Patients fear being used as an experimental subject while participating in a clinical trial. |
| 8. Standard vs. experimental care |
| Patients believe they will receive worse care from their health care team while enrolled in a clinical trial as compared to standard treatment. |
| 9. Clinical trials are a last resort |
| Patients believe that clinical trials are only a treatment option after all other treatment options have proven ineffective. |
| 10. Self-efficacy |
| Patients do not believe that they would be able to handle the requirements of participating in a clinical trial. |
| 11. Altruism |
| Patients would not choose to participate in a clinical trial to help improve cancer treatments for future patients. |
| 12. Logistics/transportation |
| Patients are unable to participate in a clinical trial because of time constraints or the inability to travel to the treatment site. |
| 13. Financial costs |
| Patients are unable to afford the costs of participating in a clinical trial. |
| 14. Negative affect/worry |
| Patients are worried and anxious about participating in a clinical trial. |
| 15. Financial and/or professional conflicts of interest |
| Patients would not choose to participate in a clinical trial if their doctor were to gain financially from enrolling them in the trial. |
| 16. Physician referral |
| Patients would only participate in a clinical trial if their physician brought it up as a treatment option/referred them. |