Communication, recruitment and enrolment in the preventative and therapeutic phase I clinical trial against HIV/AIDS based on the recombinant HIV-1 Tat protein.

The role of volunteer recruitment in HIV vaccine trials has recently been considered particularly with respect to critical issues, such as motivation, psychological assessment and social impact. The preventative and therapeutic phase I trials based on the recombinant biologically active Tat vaccine candidate, sponsored in Italy by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, included a specific centralised procedure (SCP) developed to support both the sponsor and the volunteers during trial enrolment and conduction. This process, which is an integrated, multidisciplinary, biomedical and psycho-socio-behavioural network, represented a novel and important aspect for the conduction and success of the clinical study. A specific flow of information from the sponsor to the population was developed through the SCP which started from the national announcement of the trials (through a press conference and a press release) to the enrolment of the volunteers. To this aim a telephone counselling intervention was performed to supply the scientific information translated in personalised message, allowing to select potential participants prior to the first contact with the clinical sites. Furthermore, the multi-step procedure contributed in reinforcing the motivation to participation and trial retention, providing important hints for the design of standardised enrolment procedures to be used in clinical studies. Indeed, this methodological approach, which foresees the joined participation of researchers and expert of communication, could be followed in future vaccine trials in order to improve the effectiveness of enrolment procedures.