The effectiveness of recruitment strategies on general practitioner’s survey response rates – a systematic review

Low survey response rates in general practice are common and lead to loss of power, selection bias, unexpected budgetary constraints and time delays in research projects.

Authors: Sabrina Winona Pit, Tham Vo and Sagun Pyakurel

The performance of sequence symmetry analysis as a tool for post-market surveillance of newly marketed medicines: a simulation study

Sequence symmetry analysis (SSA) is a potential tool for rapid detection of adverse drug events (ADRs) associated with newly marketed medicines utilizing computerized claims data. SSA is robust to patient spec...

Authors: Nicole L Pratt, Jenni Ilomäki, Chris Raymond and Elizabeth E Roughead

Validation of self-reported weights and heights in the avoiding diabetes after pregnancy trial (ADAPT)

Randomized controlled trials that test the effectiveness of mobile health-based weight loss programs are attractive to participants, funders, and researchers because of the low implementation cost, minimal par...

Authors: Kathryn A Paez, Susan J Griffey, Jennifer Thompson and Matthew W Gillman

Challenges to be overcome using population-based sampling methods to recruit veterans for a study of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury

Many investigators are interested in recruiting veterans from recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and/or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Researchers pursuing such ...

Authors: Peter J Bayley, Jennifer Y Kong, Drew A Helmer, Aaron Schneiderman, Lauren A Roselli, Stephanie M Rosse, Jordan A Jackson, Janet Baldwin, Linda Isaac, Michael Nolasco, Marc R Blackman, Matthew J Reinhard, John Wesson Ashford and Julie C Chapman

Enabling research in care homes: an evaluation of a national network of research ready care homes

In the UK care homes are one of the main providers of long term care for older people with dementia. Despite the recent increase in care home research, residents with dementia are often excluded from studies. ...

Authors: Sue L Davies, Claire Goodman, Jill Manthorpe, Adam Smith, Natasha Carrick and Steve Iliffe

Recruiting and motivating black subjects to complete a lengthy survey in a large cohort study: an exploration of different strategies

The effectiveness of multiple innovative recruitment strategies for enrolling Black/African American participants to the Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) is described. The study’s focus is diet and breast, pro...

Authors: Patti Herring, Terry Butler, Sonja Hall, Hannelore Bennett, Susanne B Montgomery and Gary Fraser

A randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of a pre-recruitment primer letter to increase participation in a study of colorectal screening and surveillance

Recruiting cancer patients is a barrier often encountered in research trials. However, very few randomized trials explore strategies to improve participation rates. The purpose of this study was to evaluate th...

Authors: Christine Paul, Ryan Courtney, Rob Sanson-Fisher, Mariko Carey, David Hill, Jody Simmons and Shiho Rose

Challenges and strategies for cohort retention and data collection in an indigenous population: Australian Aboriginal Birth Cohort

Longitudinal prospective birth cohort studies are pivotal to identifying fundamental causes and determinants of disease and health over the life course. There is limited information about the challenges, reten...

Authors: Megan Lawrance, Susan M Sayers and Gurmeet R Singh

Influences on recruitment to randomised controlled trials in mental health settings in England: a national cross-sectional survey of researchers working for the Mental Health Research Network

Recruitment to trials is complex and often protracted; selection bias may compromise generalisability. In the mental health field (as elsewhere), diverse factors have been described as hindering researcher acc...

Authors: Rohan Borschmann, Sue Patterson, Dilkushi Poovendran, Danielle Wilson and Tim Weaver

Using mixed methods to select optimal mode of administration for a patient-reported outcome instrument for people with pressure ulcers

When developing new measuring instruments or deciding upon one for research, consideration of the ‘best’ method of administration for the target population should be made. Current evidence is inconsistent in d...

Authors: Claudia Rutherford, Jane Nixon, Julia M Brown, Donna L Lamping and Stefan J Cano

Using vignettes in qualitative research to explore barriers and facilitating factors to the uptake of prevention of mother-to-child transmission services in rural Tanzania: a critical analysis

Vignettes are short stories about a hypothetical person, traditionally used within research (quantitative or qualitative) on sensitive topics in the developed world. Studies using vignettes in the developing w...

Authors: Annabelle Gourlay, Gerry Mshana, Isolde Birdthistle, Grace Bulugu, Basia Zaba and Mark Urassa

Survey mode and asking about future intentions did not impact self-reported colorectal cancer screening accuracy

Self-reported colorectal cancer (CRC) screening behavior is often subject to over-reporting bias. We examined how the inclusion of a future intention to screen item (viz. asking about future intentions to get scr...

Authors: Timothy J Beebe, Jeanette Y Ziegenfuss, Sarah M Jenkins, Kandace A Lackore and Timothy P Johnson

Reasons for participation and non-participation in a diabetes prevention trial among women with prior gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM)

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes. Lifestyle intervention can prevent progression to type 2 diabetes in high risk populations. We designed a randomised...

Authors: Jennifer J Infanti, Angela O’Dea, Irene Gibson, Brian E McGuire, John Newell, Liam G Glynn, Ciaran O’Neill, Susan B Connolly and Fidelma P Dunne

Factors influencing recruitment to research: qualitative study of the experiences and perceptions of research teams

Recruiting the required number of participants is vital to the success of clinical research and yet many studies fail to achieve their expected recruitment rate. Increasing research participation is a key agen...

Authors: Lisa Newington and Alison Metcalfe

Effect of numbering of return envelopes on participation, explicit refusals, and bias: experiment and meta-analysis

Tracing mail survey responses is useful for the management of reminders but may cause concerns about anonymity among prospective participants. We examined the impact of numbering return envelopes on the partic...

Authors: Thomas V Perneger, Stéphane Cullati, Sandrine Rudaz, Thomas Agoritsas, Ralph E Schmidt, Christophe Combescure and Delphine S Courvoisier

Erratum to: Qualitative systematic reviews of treatment burden in stroke, heart failure and diabetes - Methodological challenges and solutions

Authors: Katie Gallacher, Bhautesh Jani, Deborah Morrison, Sara Macdonald, David Blane, Patricia Erwin, Carl R May, Victor M Montori, David T Eton, Fiona Smith, G David Batty and Frances S Mair

Concordance between administrative claims and registry data for identifying metastasis to the bone: an exploratory analysis in prostate cancer

To assess concordance between Medicare claims and Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) reports of incident BM among prostate cancer (PCa) patients. The prevalence and consequences of bone metasta...

Authors: Eberechukwu Onukwugha, Candice Yong, Arif Hussain, Brian Seal and C Daniel Mullins

Facilitating accrual to cancer control and supportive care trials: the clinical research associate perspective

Accrual to Cancer Control and Supportive Care (CCL) studies can be challenging. Our objective was to identify facilitators and perceived barriers to successful Children’s Oncology Group (COG) CCL accrual from ...

Authors: David VanHoff, Tanya Hesser, Katherine Patterson Kelly, David Freyer, Susan Stork and Lillian Sung

Lessons learnt recruiting to a multi-site UK cohort study to explore recovery of health and well-being after colorectal cancer (CREW study)

The UK leads the world in recruitment of patients to cancer clinical trials, with a six-fold increase in recruitment during 2001–2010. However, there are large variations across cancer centres. This paper deta...

Authors: Deborah Fenlon, Kim Chivers Seymour, Ikumi Okamoto, Jane Winter, Alison Richardson, Julia Addington-Hall, Jessica L Corner, Peter W Smith, Christine M May, Matthew Breckons and Claire Foster

Exploratory randomized controlled trial evaluating the impact of a waiting list control design

Employing waiting list control designs in psychological and behavioral intervention research may artificially inflate intervention effect estimates. This exploratory randomized controlled trial tested this pro...

Authors: John A Cunningham, Kypros Kypri and Jim McCambridge