Recruitment issues in a randomized controlled exercise trial targeting wheelchair users

Abstract

This paper describes recruitment challenges and lessons learned in conducting a randomized controlled exercise trial in the absence of direct access to a clinical population. One-hundred thirty-five wheelchair users were enrolled in a home and community-based intervention to promote exercise adoption and maintenance. Over 44 months of recruitment, 355 individuals inquired about the study and 323 completed the screening process. Nearly half were determined ineligible (150/323, 46.4%), typically due to having restricted arm movement, cognitive impairment, or medical conditions that are contraindicated for unsupervised exercise. Respondents cited paid media advertisements and recruitment materials placed in health care providers' offices most frequently as being how they learned about the study. RCT participant recruitment, particularly in the absence of direct access to a clinical population, required far more time and resources than anticipated to achieve sufficient enrollment. Nurturing relations with key gatekeepers, creating a visible public profile, and maintaining ongoing recruitment activities were essential to success.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00866112.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1

Study logo and example of ad

Figure 2

Percent of inquiries received by recruitment method cited

Figure 3

Number of inquiries received from media outlets and health care sources

Figure 4

CONSORT diagram