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Description
Background: Racial and ethnic minorities, specifically Hispanics/Latinos, are underrepresented in biomedical and genetic research. In addition to sociodemographic and cultural factors, studies have shown medical mistrust to be a barrier to research participation. Greater understanding of the factors surrounding medical mistrust is necessary to inform recruitment and retention strategies for increasing Hispanic/Latino participation in medical research. Purpose: The present study examined correlates of mistrust in medical and research investigators among a cross-sectional sample of 105 Hispanic/Latino participants of iDASHSOL, an ancillary study to HCHS/SOL. Hypotheses: This primary hypothesis of this study was that highly acculturated individuals would be more likely to trust medical researchers. A secondary hypothesis was that participants with lower education would be more likely to mistrust medical researchers.Methods: Medical mistrust was assessed using the validated 12-item Trust in Medical Researchers Scale (TIMRS). Acculturation was assessed using the proxy of years lived in the United States (US), and Education was assessed by asking participants about their highest level of education completed. Multiple linear regression models examined the associations between these variables. Results: No significance was found between mistrust and years lived in the US nor between medical mistrust and educational attainment. Although medical mistrust was not significantly associated with acculturation or education, every participant answered in a way that indicated high trust for at least two of the twelve TIMRS items.Conclusion: Results seemingly indicate that Hispanics/Latinos may be more trusting of medical research than anticipated based on existing scholarly literature, the reasons for which are ambiguous. The relationship between cultural factors, education, and medical mistrust remains unclear and future research should endeavor to provide qualitative context for these quantitative data.
