Clinical trials are essential to cancer care as they test new ways of screening, treating and providing care to people with cancer. Improved survival may also be a benefit of participating in clinical trials. There are known patient populations that are underrepresented in clinical trial participation. Rural residents are one such population. While there are numerous studies on patient-related factors that influence clinical trial participation, there are limited studies on what factors influence whether healthcare professionals discuss clinical trial participation with some rural-residing people with cancer and not others. There is a lack of research on this topic, especially in the Australian context.
This study aims to explore:
Straussian Grounded Theory methods will be utilised (Corbin and Strauss, 2015). Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with cancer clinical trial investigators, healthcare professionals who refer rural residents to cancer clinical trials and clinical trial administrators. Purposive and theoretical sampling will guide recruitment of participants from rural and metropolitan health services and clinical trial units in Victoria, Australia. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted via telephone or video conferencing, recorded and transcribed verbatim. A three-step coding process (open, axial, and selective coding) will be undertaken to analyse the data. Concurrent data collection and analysis and a continuous comparison approach will be undertaken. Interviews will be conducted until no new concepts have been identified from the data (i.e. theoretical saturation). Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee approved this project (31102).
Developing evidence-based strategies to improve access and equity to clinical trials for rural-residing people with cancer requires an understanding of the factors that enable or prevent healthcare professionals from discussing clinical trials with them.