Motivation of oncology patients when participating in clinical research at a Brazilian research center

Introduction: The health sector demands assertive decisions made by evidence-based medicine, knowledge derived from clinical research. In oncology, clinical research is necessary to develop new treatments and evaluate their efficacy, safety and toxicity, with the aim of offering patients the best treatment available. Knowing the motivation of cancer patients to participate in a clinical trial facilitates the development of more efficient recruitment strategies.

Objective: to evaluate the motivation of cancer patients when participating in a clinical research protocol.

Method: prospective, observational study, approved by the Ethics Committee with CAAE 59807422.3.0000.0072, with a randomly selected sample and inclusion of oncology patients, participants in clinical research protocols (in the eligibility phase or undergoing treatment), over 18 years of age, after signing the informed consent form for the current study. These patients answered a questionnaire covering clinical and epidemiological characteristics and an objective question regarding the main reason for participating in the protocol. Analyzes of proportions were carried out with percentages, categorical variables were reported by their frequency distributions and continuous variables as mean and standard deviation.

Results: 80 patients with a mean age of 58.8 years were included. The main motivation was the doctor’s recommendation (35% of patients) followed by an altruistic objective: contributing to research to cure cancer and helping other people (25% of patients). Furthermore, 14 patients (17.5%) responded that the main motivation was to have access to medications not available on the market, 11 patients (13.75%) chose the option to increase quality of life and 7 patients (8.75%) to increase their time of life. Most patients were women (76.25%), 77.5% of patients had access to healthcare through the Unified Health System (SUS), 68.75% in a metastatic scenario and 60% of patients had already been participating in a clinical research protocol for more than 6 months.

Conclusion: The role of the attending physician in referring patients to research protocols is fundamental. The cancer patients evaluated in this study demonstrated doctor’s recommendations as their main motivation, followed by the desire to contribute to the cure of cancer.

Corresponding author: Giovanna Milanes Bego Soares (e-mail: giovannambs@gmail.com).