ABSTRACT
This study was carried out on the evaluation of patients’ willingness to participate in medical research in UBTH and Central hospital. Data from the 2011 Nigerian Genomic Survey (a nationwide representative face-to-face survey) were analyzed. The survey included a vignette of a researcher conducting a clinical trial of an investigative medicinal product, and questions for interviewees regarding their willingness to participate in research after they were informed of the scenario description. A total of 3,159 people, aged 18 to 70 years, were sampled, and 1,538 of them completed the survey. With missing data excluded, a total of 1,389 respondents were included in the final analysis. The results of the study showed that about 12 percent of the respondents answered that they would be willing to participate in medical research. Respondents who had college degrees or above and were married or lived with significant others were less likely to participate in medical research. By contrast, male respondents, and respondents whose household family members had biomedicine-related degrees or had one themselves were more likely to participate in medical research. After adjustment for demographic factors, respondents were more likely to participate in medical research if: (1) they expressed trust in doctors conducting medical research; (2) they agreed that doctors would never ask them to join medical research studies that might harm them; (3) they thought that participating in a medical research study would be safe; and (4) they agreed that researchers had no selfish reasons for doing the medical research. Some of our findings, such as the effects of education level and marital status on participation in medical research, are different from most findings of previous studies conducted in other countries. This study is useful for developing strategies to improve participant recruitment. Relevant discussions on research ethics and policies, such as the importance of public trust in medical researchers, could also be based on this study.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of study
Research is discovery of new facts, enunciation of new principles, or fresh interpretation of the facts or principles. It is a systematic Investigation to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge1. Research it is systemic and organized way of finding better answers to questions. It is a step in searching for truth and the basic function of research is to answer why and how of a phenomenon. It also involves searching answers to what, when, how much, etc. All these questions have relevance to any discipline but Medicine seems to have special appetite for such enquiries. The goal of medical research is to improve health, and the purpose is to learn how systems in human body work, why we get sick, and how to get back to health and stay fit. It is a systematic process to better determine ethology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, therapy and prognosis. Research is the very foundation of improved medical care.
The Nazi physicians conducted harmful research on unwilling human subjects during World War II and were unprecedented in their scope and the degree of harm and Suffering to which human beings were subjected “Medical experiments” were performed on thousands of concentration camp prisoners and included deadly studies and tortures such as injecting people with Gasoline and live viruses, immersing people in ice water, and forcing people to ingest poisons.
The rights of the subjects were violated by physicians. The actions were condemned as crimes against humanity. Permissible Medical Experiments were to be carried out and this became known as the Nuremberg Code and was the first international code of research ethics. The code stated the basic principles that must be observed in order to satisfy moral, ethical, and legal concepts in the conduct of human subject research.
The approach of patient participation in medical decision– making has been discussed openly in Germany. However, the first publications in German only discussed the approach conceptually. Clinical trials for the evaluation of patient participation in medical Decision making were primarily initiated through the research program of the Federal Ministry of Health.
