Project Related:

Educational Resources

  • Teacher Workshops

    Grade:
    Resource: teacher workshops

  • Student Programs

    Grade:
    Resource: student programs

  • Curricula/Literature

    Grade:
    Resource: What Is Clinical Research, The Ethics of Clinical Research, Topics: Design of Clinical Research Studies, Participation in Clinical Research, The Value of Clinical Research, and Current Clinical Research Projects

Educating High School Students and Their Families about Clinical Research

Grant Code: R25RR022714

Funding Years: 09/23/2005 - 07/31/2010

Institution: University of California San Diego

Department: The Regents of the University of California

Address:
9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0934
La Jolla, CA, 92093

PI:
BOSS, GERRY R.,
Phone: (858) 534-8805
Fax: (858) 534-1421
Email: gboss@ucsd.edu

Audience

Our project is aimed primarily at 11th and 12th grade high school students. The students then teach other students, their families, and the community at large.

Subjects Addressed

We teach the students about various aspects of clinical research including the following six topics: What Is Clinical Research, The Ethics of Clinical Research, Design of Clinical Research Studies, Participation in Clinical Research, The Value of Clinical Research, and Current Clinical Research Projects at UCSD.

Project Description

1) Informing students about clinical research. We teach 11th grade students about clinical research as part of the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program. Because AVID is an elective course and teaches skills rather than content, it is an ideal program for teaching about clinical research. 2) Participatory Tours of the UCSD General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and Clinical Trials Center (CTC). Students come to the UCSD GCRC and CTC for full-day participatory tours. They learn about the various on-going studies, and assume the role of research subject. 3) Summer Internship Program. Each summer 10 students who have completed the 11th grade clinical topics program are paired up with UCSD faculty who are actively engaged in clinical research. The students help with research protocols by for example entering or collating data. 4) Family and Community Education Program. The 10 students who complete the summer internship give talks during the following academic year to their families and to the school community. The students from last summer are currently making a video to show during their presentation.

Resources for Sharing

1) Clinical Research Topics Materials. UCSD faculty generated 5-6 page summaries about each of the above-mentioned clinical topics. From these summaries, the high school teachers generated specific class lesson plans and tests. 2) Student-generated Materials. As mentioned above, the students generate materials to be used as part of their presentations.

Dissemination Strategies

1) On-line Dissemination. On-line dissemination of the program will be done in project years four and five through the Professional Development On-Line Production (PDOP) group in the San Diego County Office of Education. 2) Monthly AVID Workshops. The clinical research materials will be presented to AVID teachers as part of their monthly workshops. This will include AVID teachers in Orange, Imperial, and San Diego counties. 3) AVID Summer Training Conferences. A national summer AVID conference is held each year in San Diego, and attracts about 4000 teachers. The clinical research materials will be presented at the conferences.

Abstract

In a previous SEPA grant, UCSD established a highly successful partnership between the UCSD School of Medicine and Helix High School, a San Diego urban school. UCSD now proposes to educate Helix students and their families about the value of clinical research as an approach to address the low enrollment of minorities in clinical research studies and clinical trials. Previous studies have shown that a lack of knowledge and appreciation of clinical research is a major barrier for minority groups to participate in clinical studies. The Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Program helps educationally disadvantaged high school students to attain a college education. Since its inception in San Diego over 20 years ago, AVID has been highly successful, and the program has been disseminated to schools throughout the country. AVID uses an interactive format to teach skills, concentrating on reading, writing, speaking, and inquiry; the content of the curriculum is left largely to the discretion of the teacher. UCSD hypothesizes that the AVID program is an ideal opportunity to educate students about clinical research, simultaneously increasing their interest in health-related careers. Phase I of the project will have four major components. First, UCSD will integrate clinical research topics into the AVID curriculum. Seven medical school faculty, each with different expertise and each actively involved in clinical research, will provide content resumes on various clinical research topics. The resumes will be converted to AVID class lesson plans by two experienced Helix teachers. The lessons will be taught to about 40 11th grade students each year. Second, the AVID students will spend a day in the UCSD General Clinical Research Center and the Clinical Trials Center, and they will actively participate in several ongoing research protocols. Third, about 10 students will engage in a clinical research internship each summer. And fourth, the summer intern students will educte their families and friends about clinical research through evening seminars. A control group at a well-matched sister high school will receive the normal AVID curriculum. Program effectiveness will be evaluated by pre- and post-intervention tests and questionnaires that evaluate knowledge about clinical research and attitudes towards it. During Phase II, the program will be disseminated initially to high schools in the Southern California AVID Region IX area, which includes Imperial, Orange, and San Diego Counties, and later to AVID schools nationwide. Dissemination will occur via an on-line mechanism, monthly workshops, and an annual summer conference.

Keywords

clinical research, minority, clinical trial, career, intern

Other projects from the same PI:
Other projects from the same PI:
View the Poster as presented at the 2006
SEPA Program Director's Conference

Top