Clinical Trial Community Engagement Lab: Project Updates

Community engagement is a critical component of clinical trials, fostering dynamic and collaborative relationships between researchers, policymakers, and communities. It is not only an ethical requirement mandated by most ethics’ committees but also a key expectation of many funding agencies, which require investigators to integrate comprehensive community engagement strategies into their trial proposals. Despite its recognized importance, there remains a lack of systematic research assessing the direct impact of these practices on trial-related outcomes (e.g., recruitment and retention rates) and community-related outcomes (e.g., trust, support, and a sense of ownership). Furthermore, the effectiveness of engagement strategies across different trial types, phases, and socioeconomic and cultural contexts remains underexplored.

To address this gap, the Clinical Trial Community Engagement Lab project has been actively reviewing literature, conducting in-depth interviews, and organizing focus group discussions with relevant stakeholders to develop a conceptual framework for community engagement in clinical trials. This framework outlines best practices for engagement across diverse contexts, offering a structured approach to optimizing community involvement. Additionally, the project has been working on an implementation assessment tool designed to measure the extent to which individual trials adopt these best practices. 

 

As part of our ongoing work, we are evaluating how various clinical trials align with the conceptual framework, assessing factors that enhance or hinder the successful implementation of engagement strategies. Our findings aim to establish a minimum set of essential practices to ensure the effective conduct of clinical trials while strengthening relationships with participating communities.

While a full peer-reviewed publication detailing the conceptual framework is forthcoming. The project’s findings will offer valuable guidance to researchers, ethics committees, and sponsors on optimizing community engagement to improve trial outcomes and foster meaningful collaboration with communities.

We will continue to refine our framework and assessment tools, integrating stakeholder feedback and emerging evidence to enhance community engagement practices in clinical trials. Future updates will provide further insights into the impact of these strategies on trial success and community trust.