Gender-Specific Messaging Can Increase Minority Participation in HIV Clinical Trials

More than two thirds of all people with the HIV virus are members of minority groups. But 70 percent of all those who participate in HIV clinical trials for medication to battle HIV are White.

A new study by Sarah Bauerle Bass, an associate professor in the College of Public Health at Temple University in Philadelphia, finds that appealing to minority group members through gender-specific messages can increase participation in HIV clinical trials.

Dr. Bass found that minority men did not trust the medical establishment and were worried that they would be treated as research “guinea pigs.” Women were more concerned with how clinical trial medication would impact other medications they were taking. By tailoring messages to particular genders, researchers can boost minority group participation in these clinical trials, Bass says.

Dr. Bass is a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she majored in communications. She holds a master of public health degree and a Ph.D. in health studies from Temple University.