Ethics of clear health communication: applying the CLEAN Look approach to communicate biobanking information for cancer research

Abstract

Cancer innovations, such as biobanking technologies, are continuously evolving to improve our understanding and knowledge about cancer prevention and treatment modalities. However, the public receives little communication about biobanking and is often unaware about this innovation until asked to donate biospecimens. It is the researchers' ethical duty to provide clear communications about biobanking and biospecimen research. Such information allows the public to understand biobanking processes and facilitates informed decision making about biospecimen donation. The aims of this paper are 1) to examine the importance of clear communication as an ethical imperative when conveying information about cancer innovations and 2) to illustrate the use of an organizing framework, the CLEAN ( C ulture, L iteracy, E ducation, A ssessment, and N etworking) Look approach for creating educational priming materials about the topic of biobanking.