The impact of an educational intervention upon the attitudes of selected black college students towards participation in research using the United States Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee as an educational too

Background. The United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Syphilis Study at Tuskegee was a forty-year (1932--1972) observational study in which syphilitic rural black men were manipulated into a federally sponsored program for scientific advancement. In 1945 penicillin was determined to be an effective cure for syphilis. However, the men were systematically denied treatment by the Study investigators. Although the Study is one among many abuses in the United States it is among the most widely cited and has created mistrust and barriers in areas such as clinical trial participation and organ and blood donation between black Americans and researchers. These barriers have discouraged participation among the black population in general and black males particularly, in recruitment for interventions created to reduce or prevent diseases or premature death.;Study objectives. The study objectives were to: (1) assess the impact of knowledge of the Syphilis Study at Tuskegee on the attitudes of black college students toward participation in future public health research, (2) identify issues of trust for black college students related to the medical community, and to the USPHS, (3) identify correlates of attitudes towards research participation, (4) identify predictors of attitudes towards research participation and (5)assess the effects of an educational intervention designed to increase knowledge of The Syphilis Study at Tuskegee, and improve attitudes towards research participation.;Methods. A convenience sample of two hundred and eighty five college students at a Historically Black University was used for this study. Each participant was assigned to an experimental or control group. The control and experimental groups were assessed in Phase I (Pre-test); in Phase II the experimental group was administered an educational intervention and; during Phase III (Post-test) both groups were reassessed to determine knowledge and attitudinal change. Correlational, t-tests and stepwise multiple regression were used to assess group differences and relationships among the study variables.;Results. Results from the t test indicated no significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group from pretest to posttest for attitudes towards research participation. However, knowledge of the Syphilis Study did increase in the experimental group. Racism awareness teaching and religious coping were significant predicators for attitudes towards research participation among students.