Recruitment and retention of participants from socioeconomically deprived communities : lessons from the Awareness and Beliefs About Cancer (ABACus3) randomised controlled trial

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Abstract

Background

Recruitment of research participants poses challenges in socioeconomically deprived areas. The Awareness and Beliefs About Cancer (ABACus) phase 3 Randomised Control Trial recruited adult participants from socioeconomically deprived areas using a combined healthcare/community engagement model. We report the strategies used to successfully recruit and retain our trial participant sample.

Methods

Community and healthcare settings in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation were identified by lay advisors who recruited participants opportunistically or by appointment. Follow-up was done by telephone or post at 2-weeks and 6-months after recruitment, and all participants were offered financial incentives. Qualitative interviews were conducted with lay advisors regarding their experience and reflections.

Results

The lay advisors identified and contacted 107 potential recruitment venues across South and West Yorkshire and South East Wales of which 41.1% (n = 42) were opened for recruitment. A total of 234 participants were recruited, with 91% (n = 212) retention at 2-weeks and 85% (n = 199) at 6-months. Community settings yielded 75% (n = 176) of participants. Participants had a mean age of 61.3 years and 63.3% (n = 148) were female, with 66% (n = 154) resident in the most deprived geographical areas. Lay advisors described recruitment as intensive, although engaging participants was easier in community settings.

Conclusions

The ABACus3 trial achieved recruitment and high retention with a population that is often “hard to reach” or entirely missed in health research. Strategies were specifically tailored to engage the venues and adult residents of highly deprived areas. Future studies recruiting adults living in the most deprived areas might benefit from community recruitment and from collaborating with local gatekeepers who are key to engagement.

This study adheres to CONSORT guidelines.

Trial registration

Retrospectively registered with ISRCTN (http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN16872545) on 12.01.2018.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Kolovou, V. Moriarty, Y. Gilbert, S. Quinn-Scoggins, H. Townson, J. Padgett, L. Owen, S. Buckle, P. Edwards, A. Hepburn, J. Lau, M. Matthews, M. Mitchell, C. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4790-0095 Neal, R. Playle, R. Robling, M. Smits, S. Trubey, R. Wood, F. Brain, K.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2020 The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
Keywords:	Community settings; Health intervention; Randomised control trial; Recruitment; Retention; Socioeconomic deprivation
Dates:	Accepted: 14 October 2020 Published (online): 4 November 2020 Published: December 2020
Institution:	The University of Sheffield
Academic Units:	The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Sheffield
Date Deposited:	13 Nov 2020 11:38
Last Modified:	31 Jan 2023 10:49
Status:	Published
Publisher:	BioMed Central
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1186/s12874-020-01149-x
Related URLs:	PubMed URL
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:167968

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Recruitment and retention of participants from socioeconomically deprived communities: lessons from the awareness and beliefs about cancer (ABACus3) randomised controlled trial. (deposited 31 Jan 2023 11:50)
- Recruitment and retention of participants from socioeconomically deprived communities: lessons from the awareness and beliefs about cancer (ABACus3) randomised controlled trial. (deposited 31 Jan 2023 10:47)
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Recruitment and retention of participants from socioeconomically deprived communities : lessons from the Awareness and Beliefs About Cancer (ABACus3) randomised controlled trial

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