Life Sciences R&D & Medical

Beyond awareness: Insights to increase willingness to participate in clinical research

By April Lewis, Emily Goldsher-Diamond, Katie Orlando, Kelsi King, and Victoria Zlotnikova

Nov. 14, 2022 | White Paper | 7-minute read

Beyond awareness: Insights to increase willingness to participate in clinical research


Despite significant investments in patient education and awareness campaigns, enrollment in clinical trials is stagnant and has been at a standstill for years. The percentage of trials that have struggled with patient recruitment and retention has remained the same since 2012, with 80% of trials reporting enrollment-related delays.

 

While many trial sponsors have long assumed patient education and awareness is the key to increasing willingness, our team at ZS wanted to explore if knowledge is the panacea it’s often made out to be. In this new white paper, we leveraged ZS’s expertise in clinical research and analyzed two groups—one of patients from across the globe with varied backgrounds, and one of people who work in the life sciences industry. While it seems easy to presume those who work in life sciences would be more willing to participate, we found their willingness to participate in an interventional study was lower than the broadly representative group, despite their understanding of the importance of clinical research.

 

If general education isn’t a cure-all to low clinical trial participation, what could be? We believe our analysis in this white paper uncovers three insights that may point the way forward as the industry moves beyond focusing on broad awareness.

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