Forster, S.E., Jones, L., Saxton, J.M. et al. (6 more authors) (2010) Recruiting older people to a randomised controlled dietary intervention trial - how hard can it be? BMC Medical Research Methodology, 10 (17). Art no.17. ISSN 1471-2288
Abstract
Background: The success of a human intervention trial depends upon the ability to recruit eligible volunteers. Many trials fail because of unrealistic recruitment targets and flawed recruitment strategies. In order to predict recruitment rates accurately, researchers need information on the relative success of various recruitment strategies. Few published trials include such information and the number of participants screened or approached is not always cited.
Methods: This paper will describe in detail the recruitment strategies employed to identify older adults for recruitment to a 6-month randomised controlled dietary intervention trial which aimed to explore the relationship between diet and immune function (The FIT study). The number of people approached and recruited, and the reasons for exclusion, will be discussed.
Results: Two hundred and seventeen participants were recruited to the trial. A total of 7,482 letters were sent to potential recruits using names and addresses that had been supplied by local Family (General) Practices. Eight hundred and forty three potential recruits replied to all methods of recruitment (528 from GP letters and 315 from other methods). The eligibility of those who replied was determined using a screening telephone interview, 217 of whom were found to be suitable and agreed to take part in the study.
Conclusion: The study demonstrates the application of multiple recruitment methods to successfully recruit older people to a randomised controlled trial. The most successful recruitment method was by contacting potential recruits by letter on NHS headed note paper using contacts provided from General Practices. Ninety percent of recruitment was achieved using this method. Adequate recruitment is fundamental to the success of a research project, and appropriate strategies must therefore be adopted in order to identify eligible individuals and achieve recruitment targets.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2010 Forster et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Clinical-Trial; Barriers; Retention; Rates |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > The Medical School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Miss Anthea Tucker |
Date Deposited: | 23 Apr 2010 09:38 |
Last Modified: | 06 Jun 2014 07:44 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-10-17 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | BioMed Central |
Identification Number: | 10.1186/1471-2288-10-17 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:10758 |