Comparing Barriers and Facilitators to Adolescent and Young Adult Clinical Trial Enrollment Across High- and Low-Enrolling Community-Based Clinics

Siembida EJ, Loomans-Kropp HA, Tami-Maury I, Freyer DR, Sung L, Crosswell HE, Pollock BH, Roth ME. Comparing Barriers and Facilitators to Adolescent and Young Adult Clinical Trial Enrollment Across High- and Low-Enrolling Community-Based Clinics. Oncologist. 2022 May 6;27(5):363-370. doi: 10.1093/oncolo/oyac030. PubMed PMID: 35522559; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9074986.

Adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients with cancer are underrepresented on cancer clinical trials (CCTs), and most AYAs are treated in the community setting. Past research has focused on individual academic institutions, but factors impacting enrollment vary across institutions. Therefore, we examined the patterns of barriers and facilitators between high- and low-AYA enrolling community-based clinics to identify targets for intervention. We conducted 34 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders employed used at National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) affiliate sites (“clinics”). Stakeholders (eg, clinical research associates, patient advocates) were recruited from high- and low-AYA enrolling clinics. We conducted a content analysis and calculated the percentage of stakeholders from each clinic type that reported the barrier or facilitator. A 10% gap between high- and low-enrollers was considered the threshold for differences.