Clinical, technical, and social contingencies and the decisions of adults with HIV/AIDS to enroll in clinical trials.

In this article, the author draws on interview data collected during an ethnographic field study of the informed consent process and HIV/AIDS clinical trial work. She held interviews to explore how individuals decide to enroll in a clinical trial and uses the concept of contingency to illustrate how individuals interpret and act on the uncertainties of clinical research. Findings show that people with HIV/AIDS consider three kinds of contingencies--clinical, social, and technical--before enrolling in a clinical trial. The author offers suggestions for how the concept of contingency might be used in future studies on informed consent and for how the concept might be used in discussions between research professionals and patients on human subject research.