Department of Social Work, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN, USA.
School of Social Work, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Clin Trials. 2023 Feb;20(1):22-30. doi: 10.1177/17407745221130757. Epub 2022 Oct 21.
Successful participant recruitment is vital to the feasibly of intervention research. In the behavioral and social sciences, intervention researchers face a myriad of recruitment barriers, many of which stem from working in real-world settings and among hard-to-access populations. Optimizing recruitment efforts requires being intentional about study planning and resource allocation, carefully documenting the outcomes of recruitment efforts, and developing and implementing procedures and strategies to overcome anticipated recruitment barriers.
The current article presents recruitment flowcharts to illustrate (a) the multistep recruitment process and (b) the points of potential participant attrition during recruitment from a two-phase group-based intervention study conducted among individuals with serious mental illness incarcerated in a state prison system in the U.S. In addition, qualitative methods are used to examine strategies employed during the study to support recruitment efforts.
Despite challenges, this study was able to achieve recruitment goals. Analyses found the majority of potential participant attrition occurred prior to informed consent, highlighting the need for studies to track recruitment efforts in more detail than is currently recommended by commonly used guidelines. Strategies to optimize recruitment efforts included maximizing recruiter availability, developing a responsive communication approach, demonstrating respect for facility procedures and operations, and ensuring peak preparedness.
Careful documentation of recruitment efforts and the early deployment of recruitment strategies is vital to the feasibility of intervention studies conducted in real-world settings with hard-to-access populations. The publication of recruitment procedures and outcomes can help future researchers anticipate recruitment challenges and inform recruitment goals, timelines, and strategies.
成功招募参与者对于干预研究的可行性至关重要。在行为和社会科学领域，干预研究人员面临着众多招募障碍，其中许多障碍源于在现实环境中以及在难以接触到的人群中开展工作。优化招募工作需要有计划地进行研究规划和资源分配，仔细记录招募工作的结果，并制定和实施克服预期招募障碍的程序和策略。
本文介绍了招募流程图，以说明（a）多步骤招募过程和（b）在美国州监狱系统中监禁的严重精神疾病个体参与的两阶段基于小组的干预研究中招募过程中的潜在参与者流失点。此外，还使用定性方法来研究在研究中采用的支持招募工作的策略。
尽管存在挑战，但本研究还是能够实现招募目标。分析发现，大多数潜在参与者的流失发生在知情同意之前，这突出表明需要比当前常用指南建议的更详细地跟踪招募工作。优化招募工作的策略包括最大限度地提高招募人员的可用性，制定响应式沟通方法，表现出对设施程序和运营的尊重，并确保做好充分准备。
仔细记录招募工作并尽早部署招募策略对于在现实环境中针对难以接触到的人群进行干预研究的可行性至关重要。公布招募程序和结果可以帮助未来的研究人员预测招募挑战，并为招募目标、时间表和策略提供信息。
