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. 2011 Sep;101(9):1749-58.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300208. Epub 2011 Jul 21.

"Speaking the dialect": understanding public discourse in the aftermath of an HIV vaccine trial shutdown

Peter A Newman  1 , Carmen Logie, Llana James, Tamicka Charles, John Maxwell, Khaled Salam, Michael Woodford
Affiliations

"Speaking the dialect": understanding public discourse in the aftermath of an HIV vaccine trial shutdown

Peter A Newman et al. Am J Public Health. 2011 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: We investigated how persons from key populations at higher risk of HIV exposure interpreted the process and outcomes of the Step Study HIV-1 vaccine trial, which was terminated early, and implications for willingness to participate in and community support for HIV vaccine research.

Methods: We used qualitative methods and a community-based approach in 9 focus groups (n = 72) among ethnically and sexually diverse populations and 6 semistructured key informant interviews in Ontario, Canada, in 2007 to 2008.

Results: Participants construed social meaning from complex clinical and biomedical phenomena. Social representations and mental models emerged in fears of vaccine-induced infection, conceptualizations of unfair recruitment practices and increased risk behaviors among trial participants, and questioning of informed consent. Narratives of altruism and the common good demonstrated support for future trials.

Conclusions: Public discourse on HIV vaccine trials is a productive means of interpreting complex clinical trial processes and outcomes in the context of existing beliefs and experiences regarding HIV vaccines, medical research, and historical disenfranchisement. Strategic engagement with social representations and mental models may promote meaningful community involvement in biomedical HIV prevention research.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Themes that emerged from focus groups and key informant interviews across the trajectory of HIV vaccine trials.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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