ReviewTrials2014
Interventions to improve recruitment and retention in clinical trials: a survey and workshop to assess current practice and future priorities.
Review in Trials, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 212 papers, 11 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
212 citing papers in PubMed, 11 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 393 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Recruiting and retaining young adults: what can we learn from behavioural interventions targeting nutrition, physical activity and/or obesity? A systematic review of the literature.Public health nutrition · 2021Pooled it
- Computed tomography for diagnosis of acute appendicitis in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Recruitment strategies in randomised controlled trials of men aged 50 years and older: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2019Pooled it
- Impact of patient and public involvement on enrolment and retention in clinical trials: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2018Pooled it
- CONSORT-SPI 2018 Explanation and Elaboration: guidance for reporting social and psychological intervention trials.Trials · 2018Guideline
- Pooled it
- A systematic review of training programmes for recruiters to randomised controlled trials.Trials · 2015Pooled it
- Characteristics of eligible patients with knee osteoarthritis accepting versus declining participation in a randomised trial investigating the effect of weight loss versus knee arthroplasty to explore generalisability: A cross-sectional study.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Enhancing Recruitment Using Teleconference and Commitment Contract (ERUTECC): a stepped wedge cluster randomised trial within the EFFECTS trial.Upsala journal of medical sciences · 2025Trial
- Effects of a non-standard information leaflet on patient recruitment in acute care: Embedded cluster-randomised controlled trial.PloS one · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Dropout risk and effectiveness of retention strategies in the Memory Advancement by Intranasal Insulin in Type 2 Diabetes (MemAID) Clinical Trial.Contemporary clinical trials · 2023Trial
- Improvements and Maintenance of Clinical and Functional Measures Among Rural Women: Strong Hearts, Healthy Communities-2. 0 Cluster Randomized Trial.Circulation. Cardiovascular quality and outcomes · 2022Trial
- Evaluation of electronic recruitment efforts of primary care providers as research subjects during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC primary care · 2022Trial
152 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDespite significant investment in infrastructure many trials continue to face challenges in recruitment and retention. We argue that insufficient focus has been placed on the development and testing of recruitment and retention interventions.
methodsIn this current paper, we summarize existing reviews about interventions to improve recruitment and retention. We report survey data from Clinical Trials Units in the United Kingdom to indicate the range of interventions used by these units to encourage recruitment and retention. We present the views of participants in a recent workshop and a priority list of recruitment interventions for evaluation (determined by voting among workshop participants). We also discuss wider issues concerning the testing of recruitment interventions.
resultsMethods used to encourage recruitment and retention were categorized as: patient contact, patient convenience, support for recruiters, monitoring and systems, incentives, design, resources, and human factors. Interventions felt to merit investigation by respondents fell into three categories: training site staff, communication with patients, and incentives.
conclusionsSignificant resources continue to be invested into clinical trials and other high quality studies, but recruitment remains a significant challenge. Adoption of innovative methods to develop, test, and implement recruitment interventions are required.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.