The Scarborough Hospital, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, 211-3030 Lawrence Avenue East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M1P 2T7.
Contemp Clin Trials. 2010 Sep;31(5):447-56. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2010.06.003. Epub 2010 Jun 25.
Little evidence exists to guide investigators on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of various recruitment strategies in primary care research. The purpose of this study is to describe the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of eight clinical trial recruitment methods for postmenopausal women in a community-based setting.
A retrospective analysis of the yield and cost of eight different recruitment methods: 1) family physician (FP) recruiters, 2) FP referrals, 3) community presentations, 4) community events, 5) newsletters, 6) direct mailings, 7) posters, and 8) newspaper advertisements that were used to recruit postmenopausal women to a randomized clinical trial (RCT) evaluating the effectiveness of gabapentin in treating hot flashes.
We recruited 197 postmenopausal women from a total of 904 screened, with 291 of the remainder being ineligible and 416 declining to participate. Of the 904 women screened, 34 (3.8%) were from FP recruiters and 35 (3.9%) were from other FP referrals while 612 (67.7%) resulted from newspaper advertisements. Of the 197 women enrolled, 141 (72%) were from newspaper advertisements, with 26 (13%) following next from posters. Word of mouth was identified as an additional unanticipated study recruitment strategy. Metropolitan newspaper advertising at $112.73 (Canadian) per enrolled participant and posters at $119.98 were found to be cost-effective recruitment methods.
Newspaper advertisements were the most successful method to recruit postmenopausal women into a community-based, primary care RCT.
在初级保健研究中，几乎没有证据可以指导研究人员评估各种招募策略的有效性和成本效益。本研究的目的是描述在社区环境中招募绝经后妇女进行临床试验的 8 种不同招募方法的有效性和成本效益。
对 8 种不同招募方法的效果和成本进行回顾性分析：1）家庭医生（FP）招募者，2）FP 转介，3）社区演讲，4）社区活动，5）通讯，6）直邮，7）海报和 8）报纸广告，这些方法用于招募绝经后妇女参加一项评估加巴喷丁治疗热潮红有效性的随机临床试验（RCT）。
我们从总共 904 名筛选出的绝经后妇女中招募了 197 名，其余的 291 名因不符合条件，416 名拒绝参加。在 904 名被筛选的妇女中，34 名（3.8%）来自 FP 招募者，35 名（3.9%）来自其他 FP 转介者，612 名（67.7%）来自报纸广告。在招募的 197 名妇女中，141 名（72%）来自报纸广告，其次是 26 名（13%）来自海报。口碑被认为是另一种意外的研究招募策略。每招募一名参与者的成本为 112.73 加元（加拿大元）的都市报纸广告和 119.98 加元的海报被认为是具有成本效益的招募方法。
报纸广告是招募绝经后妇女参加社区初级保健 RCT 最成功的方法。
