Grant: Dissemination Events - Priority Announcement: Ethics

Cancer clinical trials are critical for improving patient care because they provide evidence about cancer treatments needed to help patients and their health care providers determine best treatment options. However, few adult patients participate in clinical trials. Low levels of participation may compromise trial success, waste research dollars and squander opportunities for patients to benefit from new therapies. It is important to understand how cancer patients decide to participate in clinical trials so that doctors and researchers are better able to meet their needs and improve the success of clinical trials. This proposed meeting will take place at the NCIC Clinical Trials Group (NCIC CTG) 2012 Spring Meeting. The NCIC CTG is a cancer clinical trials network that includes 1000 clinical researchers from across Canada and conducts clinical trials of cancer therapy and supportive care. The NCIC CTG Spring Meeting is the largest cancer meeting of its kind in Canada and is an ideal setting for the proposed meeting as it brings together key stakeholders, including cancer care providers, researchers, policy makers, and advocates who all have an interest in understanding and reducing barriers to trial participation. This meeting would highlight results of a recent CIHR-funded health research project exploring cancer patients' decision-making processes about clinical trial participation, and how they retain their autonomy in this process. Specifically, the concept of relational autonomy recognizes that while patients may have autonomy, it can be influenced by family, community, social and political factors. Presentations by researchers and ethicists related to patient recruitment, communication and participation in clinical trials will highlight the challenges associated with patient recruitment. Workshop participants will work towards prioritizing best practices and policies, identify areas for change, and brainstorm about future practice and policy initiatives.