Trial reportThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2012
Exploring patients' reasons for declining contact in a cognitive behavioural therapy randomised controlled trial in primary care.
Trial report in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Factors that impact on recruitment to randomised trials in health care: a qualitative evidence synthesis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Influence of Social Support on Patients' Adherence to Activity Advice in Low Back Pain: A Double-Blinded Randomised Controlled Trial.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapy · 2026Trial
- Trial
- The value of an embedded qualitative study in a trial of a second antidepressant for people who had not responded to one antidepressant: understanding the perspectives of patients and general practitioners.BMC family practice · 2018Trial
- Selection bias and subject refusal in a cluster-randomized controlled trial.BMC medical research methodology · 2017Trial
- Altruism, personal benefit, and anxieties: a phenomenological study of healthy volunteers' experiences in a placebo-controlled trial of duloxetine.Human psychopharmacology · 2016Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Patients' reasons for declining a primary care trial online therapy: a mixed-methods study.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Article
- Chronic pain trials often exclude people with comorbid depressive symptoms: A secondary analysis of 346 randomized controlled trials.Clinical trials (London, England) · 2023Article
- A qualitative investigation of reasoning behind decisions to decline participation in a research intervention: A study-within-a-trial.Journal of health psychology · 2023Article
- Patient adherence to physical activity advice (PAPA) in patients with low back pain: Study protocol for a multicentre randomized controlled trial.Physiotherapy research international : the journal for researchers and clinicians in physical therapy · 2022Article
- Article
- Article
- 'Sick and tired': Patients reported reasons for not participating in clinical psychiatric research.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2021Article
- Does prospective acceptability of an intervention influence refusal to participate in a randomised controlled trial? An interview study.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2021Article
- Reasons for nonparticipation in the Valuing Active Life in Dementia randomised controlled trial of a dyadic occupational therapy intervention: An interview study.SAGE open medicine · 2020Article
- Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe difficulties of recruiting individuals into mental health trials are well documented. Few studies have collected information from those declining to take part in research, in order to understand the reasons behind this decision.
aimTo explore patients' reasons for declining to be contacted about a study of the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy as a treatment for depression. DESIGN AND
settingQuestionnaire and telephone interview in general practices in England and Scotland.
methodPatients completed a short questionnaire about their reasons for not taking part in research. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with a purposive sample to further explore reasons for declining.
resultsOf 4552 patients responding to an initial invitation to participate in research involving a talking therapy, 1642 (36%) declined contact. The most commonly selected reasons for declining were that patients did not want to take part in a research study (n = 951) and/or did not want to have a talking therapy (n = 688) (more than one response was possible). Of the decliners, 451 patients agreed to an interview about why they declined. Telephone interviews were completed with 25 patients. Qualitative analysis of the interview data indicated four main themes regarding reasons for non-participation: previous counselling experiences, negative feelings about the therapeutic encounter, perceived ineligibility, and misunderstandings about the research.
conclusionCollecting information about those who decline to take part in research provides information on the acceptability of the treatment being studied. It can also highlight concerns and misconceptions about the intervention and research, which can be addressed by researchers or recruiting GPs. This may improve recruitment to studies and thus ultimately increase the evidence base.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.