Abstract B003: Inclusion of deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing people in cancer clinical trials: Innovative accessible technologies

Abstract We present an innovative informed consent app designed for deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing people who use sign language and wish to participate in clinical trial studies. The informed consent process on the accessible app displays each section of informed consent form in sign language and captures the participant’s signed responses through a mobile device camera. If the response in sign language is “yes” or “I consent”, the app captures the response and moves on to the next step. Participants can also respond in sign language with “no” or “repeat” if they did not understand the a specific section in the informed consent document on the app. The app also supports recording the participants’ signature in sign language instead of English if they desire to do so. Feedback from diverse deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing signers, including college students, senior citizens and people of color, showed that the app supporting the interactive informed consent process is culturally and linguistically appropriate for diverse people who have sensory disabilities and rely on primarily sign language. The accessible informed consent app also gives people with sensory disabilities greater autonomy as research participants in clinical trials as well as assists researchers in reducing the barriers that often prevent sign language users from participating in clinical trial studies. This study was funded by the National Library of Medicine/NIH. Citation Format: Poorna Kushalnagar, Raja Kushalnagar. Inclusion of deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing people in cancer clinical trials: Innovative accessible technologies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B003.