Yes / Recruiting isolated older adults to clinical trials is complex, time-consuming and difficult. Previous
studies have suggested querying existing databases to identify appropriate potential participants. We aim to
compare recruitment techniques (general practitioner (GP) mail-outs, community engagement and clinician
referrals) used in three randomised controlled trial (RCT) studies assessing the feasibility or effectiveness of
two preventative interventions in isolated older adults (the Lifestyle Matters and Putting Life In Years interventions).
Methods: During the three studies (the Lifestyle Matters feasibility study, the Lifestyle Matters RCT, the Putting Life In
Years RCT) data were collected about how participants were recruited. The number of letters sent by GP surgeries for
each study was recorded. In the Lifestyle Matters RCT, we qualitatively interviewed participants and intervention facilitators
at 6 months post randomisation to seek their thoughts on the recruitment process.
Results: Referrals were planned to be the main source of recruitment in the Lifestyle Matters feasibility study, but due to
a lack of engagement from district nurses, community engagement was the main source of recruitment. District nurse
referrals and community engagement were also utilised in the Lifestyle Matters and Putting Life In Years RCTs; both
mechanisms yielded few participants. GP mail-outs were the main source of recruitment in both the RCTs, but of those
contacted, recruiting yield was low (< 3%). Facilitators of the Lifestyle Matters intervention questioned whether the most
appropriate individuals had been recruited. Participants recommended that direct contact with health professionals
would be the most beneficial way to recruit.
Conclusions: Recruitment to the Lifestyle Matters RCT did not mirror recruitment to the feasibility study of the same
intervention. Direct district nurse referrals were not effective at recruiting participants. The majority of participants were
recruited via GP mail-outs, which may have led to isolated individuals not being recruited to the trials. Further research
is required into alternative recruitment techniques, including respondent-driven sampling plus mechanisms which will
promote health care professionals to recruit vulnerable populations to research. / Medical Research Council (grant number G1001406); Sheffield Health and Social Research Consortium; National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme (project number 09/ 3004/01)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/15240 |
| Date | 20 February 2018 |
| Creators | Chatters, R., Newbould, L., Sprange, K., Hind, D., Mountain, Gail, Shortland, K., Powell, L., Gossage-Worrall, R., Chater, T., Keetharuth, A., Lee, E., Woods, B. |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Article, Published version |
| Rights | © 2018 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), CC-BY |
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