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Women Research Volunteers Proving Harder To Find

From Newswise MedNews

Karla Thompson, R.N., and Peter Schmidt, M.D., speak with a volunteer about participating in a medical study. That task is growing increasingly difficult, they say.

SUNCOAST NEWS STAFF REPORT

Published: May 21, 2008

BETHESDA, Md. - When the National Institute of Mental Health opened the doors to its midlife clinic here in 1989, it placed a newspaper ad asking for women to volunteer as research subjects.

In response, the clinic received more than 300 telephone calls from would-be volunteers and couldn't handle them all.

Zoom ahead 19 years and things are a lot different.

"Now we only get a handful of calls each month," says Dr. Peter Schmidt, M.D., an NIMH clinician and investigator. As a result, Schmidt and his team are facing the challenge of declining numbers of women volunteering to participate in their studies, especially trials investigating postpartum depression and midlife depression preceding the onset of menopause.

Three members of Schmidt's team - Karla Thompson, a registered nurse, Annie Shellswick , a social worker, and two other physicians - have tried several methods to recruit volunteers for their studies.

One barrier Schmidt faces when recruiting patients for the PPD studies, he says, is the negative social stigma attached to these conditions. Thompson says most of the new mothers who come into the clinic feel guilty about being depressed.

"You need to be well for your baby to be well," Thompson tells them, assuring them that they are taking the right step in seeking treatment.

According to a Society for Women's Health Research survey, 93 percent of women say their doctors have never talked with them about participating in a medical research study.

In an effort to change that, the Society for Women's Health Research has a public education campaign called "Some Things Only a Woman Can Do" It provides women with information about volunteering for medical research.

Information is available on the campaign Web site: http://www.womancando.org>.