Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Australian Cancer Trials: Empowering the Australian Arabic-Speaking Community through Collaborative Engagement and Trial Navigator Support

Caregiver with blonde hair and a yellow polo shirt is pushing an older lady with grey hair in a wheelchair. The lady in the wheelchair is wearing a navy jacket and a paly blue scarf. They are both smiling.

This project is all about ensuring equitable access to cancer clinical trials in Australia. Initially, we have chosen to focus on improving the access and participation of Arabic-speaking people with cancer, since the Arabic-speaking community makes up a significant part of the population in the South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD).

Funded by the Cancer Institute NSW, this project will utilise the existing bilingual community educator workforce and train them to be 'trial navigators'. These trial navigators will then be deployed into clinics in a pilot model to determine the feasibility of this approach.

The trial navigator training module will be co-designed with input from Arabic-speaking communities, consumers, clinicians, and researchers. Trial navigators will work with Arabic-speaking people with cancer who are thinking about taking part in a clinical trial.

The goal is for the trial navigator to provide information to people about cancer and clinical trials. This is so that they can make an informed choice about whether to take part in a clinical trial. The trial navigator will provide this information in Arabic or English, depending on each person's preference.

This project is led by Dr Abhijit Pal, a medical oncologist (SWSLHD), in collaboration with Cancer Symptom Trials (CST), SWSLHD Multicultural Services, and the Arab Council of Australia, among other institutions listed below.