Methods for Increasing Recruitment and Retention of Ethnic Minorities in Health Research Through Addressing Ethical Concerns.

The National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Revitalization Act of 1993 mandated the inclusion of women and ethnic minorities in NIH clinical research studies. By 1994, NIH had developed a set of guidelines that stated that women and members of minority groups and their subpopulations were to be included in all NIH-supported biomedical and behavioral research projects that involve human participants (Hayunga & Pinn, 1996). Despite the increase in the numbers of nonminorities involved in the collection of data in ethnic minority populations, little in the way of training has emerged to educate researchers about the communities they are entering (Cochran & Mays, 1998; Mays & Cochran, 2000). This is unfortunate on several levels. A lack of knowledge about the historical and social context of the communities being studied robs researchers of valuable insights that should be integrated into their research endeavors. Also, being unfamiliar with the community increases the chance that research conducted with ethnic minorities may produce less benefit and have greater propensity to generate harm. Although in some instances there is little actual physical harm attributable to a particular research project, the relationship between the ethnic minority communities and the research community is harmed. This harm can occur due to perceptions arising out of historical relationships of mistrust and prior research misdeeds that derail current efforts to recruit ethnic minority respondents (Gamble, 1997; Hatch, Moss, Saran, PresleyCantrell, & Mallory, 1993; Mays & Cochran, 1996). This paper will focus on modules that can be incorporated into research training early in the process of conducting research in ethnic minority populations.