Community Health Representatives as Trusted Sources for Increasing Representation of American Indian Communities in Clinical Research

Authors: Samantha Sabo, Naomi Lee, Grant Sears, Dulce J Jiménez, Marissa Tutt, Jeffersson Santos, Omar Gomez, Nicolette Teufel-Shone, Marianne Bennet, J T Neva Nashio, Fernando Flores, Julie Baldwin

The focus of this paper was to explore the steps to partner with Native Nations of Arizona to engage community health representatives (CHRs) as a trusted source for building awareness on COVID-19 clinical research and vaccine trials. Three Tribal CHR programs were engaged to develop and refine culturally centered educational materials and a pre-post survey using a consensus-based decision-making approach. The results showed significant increases in awareness about and ability to enroll in COVID-19 treatment and vaccine trials. Participants also showed a significant increase in trust in researchers, decreased perceived cost-related barriers to participation in a clinical trial, and improved belief in the benefits of participation in a COVID-19 clinical trial to American Indian and Alaskan Native people. These findings suggest that CHR awareness-building, coupled with culturally centered educational materials, offer a promising approach to improve awareness of clinical trial research generally and COVID-19 trials specifically among Indigenous and American Indian community members.