Clinical research with older African Americans and Latinos - Perspectives from the community

This study examines the social and health priorities of older African Ameri cans and Latinos and their attitudes about participation in clinical resear ch. Focus group discussions were conducted with older Latinos and African A mericans, and a survey was mailed to key informants from 117 community-base d organizations serving primarily older African Americans or Latinos. Resul ts indicate that affordable housing, enough money to meet their needs, adeq uate transportation, and safer neighborhoods were urgent priorities for old er Latinos and African Americans and superseded their health concerns. Dist rust of researchers, lack of information, caregiver obligations, fear of ex perimentation, and lack of benefits were identified as barriers to research participation. Results indicate that community members are willing to part icipate in research provided they are fully informed of the research and pe rceive tangible benefits and congruence between the objectives of researche rs and participants.