Suppose you’re a medical researcher or a clinical nursing practitioner studying to complete one of the many available and industry-recognized online nursing PhD programs. In that case, you’ll likely already know the importance of diverse representation in clinical trials and research.
To better understand this concept, however, we must first ask ourselves — what is diversity? Also, why is it that diverse representation is so important for clinical research? And finally, how can medical researchers ensure that their clinical trials embrace diversity and representation?
Let’s explore these concepts in further detail.
What is Diversity?
Diversity can be defined as the concept of the active inclusion of people from all demographics, social standings, and walks of life. What are demographics, then? These are the social markers, criteria, and characteristics that define individuals within a population, and that group them within the specific segment of the population that shares many of the same attributes.
Some of the most commonly identified demographic markers include race or ethnicity, age, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status. Diverse representation takes into account the many different demographics that exist within our population and gives each of them a voice.
This representation matters, and not just for reasons of social justice. It’s also critical to ensure fair, transparent, and accurate clinical research. Let’s delve into the many reasons why.
Why is Diverse Representation Important for Research?
For clinical trials to be accurate, they must consider the representation of all individual voices within a population — regardless of the demographic they represent. Simply gathering test results from a pool of white, middle-aged males, for example, will not give a sufficient understanding of how different types of individuals will be affected by different scenarios. For this reason, researchers must draw clinical trial candidates from a diverse range of demographics, to ensure that an accurate snapshot of the population is tested, analyzed, and reviewed. This is the only way we can trust that the research will be adequately representative of all different types of people within the population.
As mentioned, some of the diverse demographics clinical researchers should and must reach out to, to be able to ensure broad, fair, and representative clinical trial results include:
- People of all genders — including males, females, non-binary, and gender-fluid people.
- Individuals of all ages, from children to the elderly.
- Racially and ethnically diverse individuals.
- Test subjects from a variety of different socio-economic statuses and social standings, from low-income earners to the more affluent.
Now, obviously these will not all apply to every clinical trial or area of research. For example, a study on a particular health issue affecting pregnant women, will not involve children or people with male reproductive systems. They should however, include pregnant women of various ages, socioeconomic status’, and ethnic and racial backgrounds.
How Do We Ensure Clinical Trials Embrace Diversity?
So, how to improve representation in clinical trials? For one, according to the experts, trial candidates need to be drawn from more diverse sites. Specifically, this means reaching out to more varied and diverse community groups within the population. Women’s groups, for example, and members of ethnic communities must be considered, as well as individuals from various age brackets and walks of life, and also, people with different sexuality and lifestyle preferences. Researchers might have to put extra work into finding some groups. Doing this will increase the mix of demographics that are included within a trial group, which is, ultimately, the end goal.
So, what are some other key strategies to enhance diverse representation in clinical trials? Some further steps to take when embracing diversity in clinical research include:
- Building lasting relationships with people from different backgrounds to ourselves.
- Educating participants on the importance of their presence in research.
- Fostering a mindset of diversity and inclusion within institutions and organizations.
- Highlighting the importance of diverse research to the shareholders who are supporting, backing, and funding the clinical trials.
As discussed today, embracing diversity in clinical research is critical to ensure accurate, fair, and adequately representative test results.
For medical researchers, embracing diversity means reaching out to a variety of different demographics — including community groups they may not personally be familiar with. It means fostering and cultivating a positive attitude towards diversity and representation amongst institutions, organizations, and funding shareholders.
Above all, diversity in clinical research is essential to ensure that all voices within our population are fairly and accurately represented.