Establishing Trust In International Clinical Trials: What Perspectives Of A Ghanaian Community Reveals

Trust is acknowledged to be centrally important to the operation of clinical trials. The processes of building trust are not well understood. This is particularly the case where clinical trials are undertaken in resource-constrained settings, such as Sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, theoretical discourses on trust are explored, and considered in the light of fieldwork undertaken by the first author in Ghana. The constructions of trust, made by clinical trial participants, suggest the need for a more nuanced understanding of the way that trust operates and the way that choices about participation in trials are made by individuals in the context of their experiences. This is considered in relation to the operation of the traditional governance of clinical trials participation.