Research Staff Perspectives on Cancer Clinical Trials and Barriers to Recruitment: A Qualitative Research

Abstract Study objectives-Highlight common barriers to recruiting adults' cancer patients, encountered by research coordinators from all disease sites-Propose effective solutions to identified barriers.Results We are reporting our results of a qualitative research methodology investigating barriers to clinical trials enrollment from a new perspective. The most commonly reported obstacles, for clinical trials enrollment, from our research staff perspective were categorized into five themes: clinical trials protocol, communication barriers and cultural beliefs, financial barriers, patients' comorbidities and performance status, and physicians’ commitment. Assessing barriers encountered by clinical research staff is infrequently used as a metric for improving clinical trial enrollment, but provides important perspective. Interventions to improve clinical trial feasibility and accrual are critical to improve cancer care.