Understanding the Cultural Barriers That Impede Latinas From Clinical Trials

• Main Author: Gines, Venus
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: OpenWorks @ MD Anderson 2008
• Subjects: Health Disparate; Minority and Vulnerable Populations; Healthcare Disparities; Social Determinants of Health; Hispanic or Latino; Clinical Trials as Topic; DML
• Online Access: https://openworks.mdanderson.org/dhaw/2008/biocultural/4; https://openworks.mdanderson.org/context/dhaw/article/1006/type/native/viewcontent/Gines_Understandingthe.mp4_AWSAccessKeyId_AKIAYVUS7KB2I6J5NAUO_Signature_yV1lq_2FBWRd6NKNHig6YFk6jEV7s_3D_Expires_1692549334; https://openworks.mdanderson.org/context/dhaw/article/1006/filename/0/type/additional/viewcontent/Gines.pdf

In order to understand the cultural dimensions that play a role in the lack of Latina participation in clinical trials, it is vital to document the many underlying reasons for their fear and mistrust. Many people think of the Tuskegee experiment when we mention unethical trials, but there were others, including one impacting my own family and community - the sterilization campaign against Latinas on welfare in Spanish Harlem in the 1950s. This led to a pervasive mistrust of doctors and the medical system in Latinas to the point that I only sought treatment for pre-natal care and in emergencies. A literature review on medical abuse among poor and disadvantaged women of color highlighted the sterilization campaign against Puerto Rican and Mexican women from the 1940s through the 1970s. Sterilized at 28 and dead by 56, my mother instilled my mistrust at an early age. My breast cancer was discovered by accident - literally, while receiving care for an on-the-job injury. Among many of the factors that hinder Latinas from access, preventive screening and clinical trials, mistrust continues to be one of the leading reasons noted in the survey forms from the last 5 years of DML. However, there has been no specific study addressing how to overcome this mistrust.