ArticleBMJ open2022
Behavioural approaches to recruitment and retention in clinical trials: a systematic mapping review.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 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
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- Retention in theBMJ global health · 2025Trial
- Challenges and opportunities for conducting pre-hospital trauma trials: a behavioural investigation.Trials · 2023Trial
- What influences communication about retention in randomised trials: a multi-trial, theory-based analysis exploring trial staff perspectives.BMC medical research methodology · 2022Trial
- The Influence of Relationships Within Behavioral Weight Management Interventions: An Overview.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Review
- A Qualitative Study Exploring the Acceptability of Taking Part in a Large Multicentre RCT of Medication for Anxiety in Autistic Adults (the STRATA Trial).Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- The ethical permissibility of financial incentives.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2026Article
- An e-health transition intervention for youth with brain-based disabilities: Pilot and feasibility results from a Randomized Controlled Trial.Health care transitions · 2026Article
- Enhancing Outpatient Clinic Recruitment: A Quality Improvement Strategy for a Prospective Research Study.Archives of rehabilitation research and clinical translation · 2025Review
- Developing Behavior Change Model-Informed and Participant-Engaged Retention Strategies for Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer Enrolled on Behavioral and/or Psychosocial Trials.Pediatric blood & cancer · 2025Article
- Article
- Clinical Trial Participation Motivation: Role of Smoking Status.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Several methods for assessing research waste in reviews with a systematic search: a scoping review.PeerJ · 2024Article
- Evaluation of factors associated with recruitment rates in early phase clinical trials based on the European Clinical Trials Register data.Clinical and translational science · 2023Article
- Article
- Article
- Adherence and eating experiences differ between participants following a flexitarian diet including red meat or a vegetarian diet including plant-based meat alternatives: findings from a 10-week randomised dietary intervention trial.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesTo identify studies that applied behavioural approaches to issues of recruitment and/or retention to trials; to describe these approaches; and to identify gaps for future research.
designSystematic mapping review of research undertaken in clinical trials within peer-reviewed sources. Review participants were individuals involved in clinical trials, including trial staff, participants, potential participants and former participants. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, Web of Science and ASSIA from inception to 15 January 2020 with no date or language restrictions. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Studies within the context of clinical trials reporting the barriers/facilitators to recruitment and retention, or developing/evaluating solutions to said barriers/facilitators, using a behavioural approach.
results31 articles were included. Recruitment-focused studies (n=22, 71%) represented the majority. Studies tended to focus on participant behaviours (n=22, 71%). Underserved populations (n=11, 35%) were a notable subset of studies. Most studies (n=23, 74%) were exploratory but those that evaluated interventions (n=8, 26%) often did so within underserved populations (n=6). A majority of studies (n=30, 97%) did not specify their behaviours consistent with guidelines from behavioural scientists. The most used approaches were social cognitive theory (n=8, 26%), the theory of planned behaviour (n=6, 19%) and the theoretical domains framework (n=5, 16%).
conclusionsA range of behavioural approaches have been applied to recruitment and retention to trials. The multitude of recruitment research here is consistent with trials research generally and emphasises the need for research into retention. Authors report target behaviours minimally, which is not conducive to replication. Further research should build on lessons here, such as clearly specifying behaviours. Increased methodological rigour and transparency will lead to robust evidence bases and less research waste in poor recruitment and retention. Overall, trials informed by behavioural approaches promises to be efficient and more participant focused.
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.