Psychosocial barriers contributing to the under-representation of racial/ethnic minorities in cancer clinical trials.

Various psychosocial barriers currently prevent proportional representation of racial and ethnic minority groups in oncology clinical trials. These barriers can be conceptualized into a Social Ecological Model framework, with particular emphasis on the socio-cultural dimension. The barriers to participation can be summarized into six levels of influence: intrapersonal, interpersonal, environmental, socio-cultural, community, and institutional. Given social workers' multi-systemic approach to assessing and intervening in problems, their positioning at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels of practice, education, policy, and research are appropriate and critical to promoting clinical trial participation.