Factors Influencing Public Knowledge and Willingness to Participate in Biomedical Research in Jordan: A National Survey

Figures & data

Table 1 Participants’ awareness of and willingness to participate in medical research (n=2,000)

	n (%)
Have you heard about medical research?
Yes	1,164 (58.6%)
No	822 (41.4%)
Have you participated in any medical research?
Yes	361 (18.1%)
No	1,631 (81.9%)
Are you willing to participate in medical research?
Yes	1,107 (55.5%)
No/unsure	886 (44.4%)
Are you willing to have new drugs tested on you?
Yes	620 (31.1%)
No/unsure	1,375 (68.9%)
Are you willing to have approved drugs tested on you?
Yes	913 (46.1%)
No/unsure	1,069 (53.9%)
Are you willing to allow any of your family member to participate in any medical research?
Yes	840 (42.2%)
No/unsure	1,149 (57.8%)

Table 2 Assessment of study-participant knowledge about medical research studies (n=2,000)

	Correct answer, n (%)
Medical research is limited to survey studies^a	883 (44.6%)
Participants’ consent is required only in medical research involving drug treatment^a	1,527 (76.9%)
Filling survey on patients’ opinions about healthcare topics is considered a medical research^b	1,527 (76.9%)
Experiments on animals is considered medical research^b	1,003 (50.6%)
Studies to test new drugs or procedures on humans is considered medical research^b	1,231 (62.2%)
Observational studies to determine risk factors of diseases is considered medical research^b	1,366 (68.9%)
Observationals to assess the safety of medication on patient health is considered medical research^b	1,403 (70.8%)
Testing new devices on humans is considered medical research^b	1,221 (61.4%)
Ethical guidelines are present to regulate the conduct of medical research^b	1,233 (62.1%)
Researchers can recruit patients/participants without their approval^a	1,480 (74.2%)
Participants can withdraw freely from any medical research at any time^b	981 (49.2%)
Confidentiality of personal information is essential to know about before giving consent to participate in a study^b	1,813 (91.1%)
Anticipated benefits are essential to know about before giving consent to participate in a study^b	1,689 (85.0%)
Foreseeable risks are essential to know about before giving consent to participate in a study^b	1,627 (82.0%)
Alternative procedures or courses of treatment are essential to know about before giving consent to participate in the study^b	1,490 (72.1%)
Research aims are essential to know about before giving consent to participate in a study^b	1,588 (80.2%)
The voluntary nature of participation is essential to know about before giving consent to participate in a study^b	1,425 (64.7%)
Possible compensation is essential to know about before giving consent to participate in a study^b	940 (47.6%)
The right to withdraw and its consequence are essential to know about before giving consent to participate in the study^b	1,194 (60.4%)
The number of participants needed is essential to know about before giving consent to participate in the study^a	575 (29.0%)
Knowledge score, mean ± SD (out of 20)	12.9±3.8

Notes: ^aFalse; ^btrue.

Table 3 Demographic characteristics of the study sample at baseline (n=2000)

	Mean (SD)	n (%)
Age (years)	29.1 (10.3)
Sex
Female		1,339 (67.4%)
Male		648 (32.6%)
Education
Low (school or lower)		1,040 (52.3%)
High (university or higher)		948 (47.7%)
Employment
Working full-time		560 (28.6%)
Working part-time		115 (5.8%)
Retired		51 (2.6%)
Self-employed		97 (4.9%)
Homemaking/caregiving		304 (15.3%)
Studying		642 (32.3%)
Looking for work		211 (10.6%)
Personal income
<JD500 month		1,762 (88.9%)
>JD500 JD		219 (11.1%)
Marital status, n (%)
Married		913 (45.8%)
Nont married (single, divorced, widowed)		1,079 (54.2%)
Religion
Muslim		19,67 (98.4%)
Christian		20 (1.0%)
Other		11 (0.6%)
Residence
Amman		171 (8.6%)
Other		1,820 (91.4%)
Biomedicine-related degree
Yes		206 (10.4%)
No		1,768 (89.6%)

Note: US$1 = JD0.71.

Figure 1 Participants’ health status (n=2,000).

Table 4 Assessment of factors affecting participants’ willingness to participate in medical research (n=2,000)

	Willingness to participate (0, no; 1, yes)
	OR	95% CI	P-value^#	OR	95% CI	P-value^$
Age (years)	1.010	1.001–1.018	0.032	0.988	0.947–1.002	0.082
Sex
Female	Reference
Male	1.192	0.985–1.441	0.071	1.281	1.010–1.626	0.041*
Education
Low (school or lower)	Reference
High (university or higher)	1.412	1.181–1.688	<0.001	1.165	0.934–1.453	0.176
Personal income
<JD500/month	Reference
>JD500month	1.800	1.335–2.427	<0.001	1.259	0.876–1.808	0.213
Marital status, n (%)
Married	Reference
Nont married (single, divorced, widowed)	0.669	0.559–0.800	<0.001	0.646	0.489–0.853	0.002*
Religion
Muslim	Reference
Other	0.573	0.279–1.176	0.129	0.666	0.280–1.583	0.357
Residence
Amman	Reference
Other	0.907	0.660–1.245	0.545	—	—	__
Nationality
Jordanian	Reference
Others	0.642	0.421–0.980	0.040	0.834	0.493–1.410	0.498
Biomedicine-related degree
Yes	Reference
No	0.777	0.587–1.044	0.094	0.673	0.473–0.957	0.027*
Knowledge score	1.169	1.136–1.203	<0.001	1.161	1.126–1.197	<0.001*

Notes: ^#Using simple logistic regression; ^$using multiple logistic regression; *P<0.05.