Trial reportJMIR formative research2025
Effect on Response Rates of Adding a QR Code to Patient Consent Forms for Qualitative Research in Patients With Cancer: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in JMIR formative research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe successful conduct of health and medical research is largely dependent on participant recruitment. Effective, yet inexpensive methods of increasing response rates for all types of research are required. QR codes are now commonplace, and despite having been extensively used to recruit study participants, a search of the literature failed to reveal any randomized trial investigating the effect of adding a QR code on qualitative research response rates.
objectiveThis study aimed to collect data on rates of response, consent, and decline among patients with cancer, and the average time taken to respond following randomization to receive either a QR code or no QR code on the patient consent form for a qualitative research study.
methodsThis was a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) embedded within a qualitative research study. In total, 40 eligible patients received a recruitment pack for the qualitative study, which included an information statement, a consent form, and an addressed, stamped envelope to return their consent form. Patients were randomized 1:1 to the control (standard recruitment pack only) or intervention group (standard recruitment pack including modified consent form with a QR code).
resultsIn total, 27 out of 40 patients (age: mean 63.0, SD 14.8 years; 45% female) responded to the consent form. A lower proportion of the QR code group (60%) responded (odd ratio [OR] 0.57, 95% CI 0.14-2.37; P=.44), compared to 75% of the standard recruitment group. However, a higher proportion of the QR group (35%) consented (OR 1.84, 95% CI 0.41-8.29; P=.43), compared to the standard recruitment group (20%). A lower proportion of the QR group (25%) declined (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.09-1.38; P=.13) relative to the standard recruitment group (55%). The mean response time of the QR code group was 16 days (rate ratio [RR] 0.79, 95% CI 0.47-1.35; P=.39) compared to 19 days for the standard recruitment group. None of the age-adjusted analyses were statistically significant.
conclusionsThis underpowered pilot study did not find any evidence that offering an option to respond through a QR code on a patient consent form for a qualitative study increased the overall patient response rate (combined rate of consent and decline). However, there was a nonsignificant trend, indicating that more patients who received the QR code consented compared to those who did not receive the QR code. This study provides useful preliminary data on the potential impact of QR codes on patient response rates to invitations to participate in qualitative research and can be used to inform fully powered RCTs.
trial registrationOSF Registries 10.17605/OSF.IO/PJ25X; https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/PJ25X.
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