Evaluating the reliability of the Attitudes to Randomized Trial Questionnaire (ARTQ) in a predominantly African American sample.

Marvella E Ford,Elizabeth Garrett-Mayer,Kelley Ercole,Kimberly Cannady,Wei Wei,Nnadozie Ezerioha,Leslie A Moore,Dana R Burshell,Franshawn Mack

doi:10.1186/s40064-015-1208-z

Abstract

PurposeTo evaluate the reliability of the Attitudes to Randomized Trial Questionnaire (ARTQ) in measuring perceptions of cancer clinical trials in a predominantly African American (AA) sample in South Carolina (SC).MethodsPrincipal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cronbach’s alpha estimates were used to assess the reliability of the ARTQ in a convenience sample of 315 participants (81.4 % AA) who were recruited from 2008 to 2013, and who live in eleven different counties in South Carolina with high rates of racial disparities in cancer mortality rates.ResultsSlightly more than half of the 315 participants had at least a college education (77.9 %), 84.8 % were female, and 53.1 % had an annual income of $40,000 or more. In this study, PCA confirmed that the ARTQ is unidimensional. Cronbach’s alpha for the ARTQ was 0.86.ConclusionThe ARTQ displayed strong evidence of high statistical reliability. This analysis has great implications for future research because it represents the first test of reliability of the ARTQ in a predominantly African American sample and lays the groundwork for use of the ARTQ in future studies in diverse populations.

Highlights

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States where it accounts for more than one million deaths per year
The objective of this study is to evaluate the reliability of the Attitudes to Randomized Trial Questionnaire (ARTQ) in assessing perceptions of cancer clinical trials in predominantly AA populations in South Carolina (SC)
Since our analysis only focused on the binary Yes/ No responses to the ARTQ items, the “Don’t Know” responses were coded as missing in the calculation of the Cronbach’s alpha

Summary

Introduction

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States where it accounts for more than one million deaths per year. For the majority of cancer types, African Americans have the highest cancer mortality rate of any other racial or ethnic group in the United States (Seigel et al 2014). In South Carolina (SC), rates of cancer related deaths are among the highest in the nation, among African Americans (Seigel et al 2014). Conceptual framework Previous studies show that members of African American (AA) communities may require additional knowledge about cancer screening, prevention, early detection, and treatment. Low levels of knowledge are associated with low self-efficacy and low rates of participation in prostate, breast and cervical cancer screening (Barber et al 1998; Glick et al 2012).

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