Recruiting and retaining parents in behavioral intervention trials: Strategies to consider

Caitlin Shneider, Marisa E Hilliard, Maureen Monaghan, Carrie Tully, Christine H Wang, Manuela Sinisterra, Jasmine Jones, Wendy Levy, Randi Streisand, Caitlin Shneider, Marisa E Hilliard, Maureen Monaghan, Carrie Tully, Christine H Wang, Manuela Sinisterra, Jasmine Jones, Wendy Levy, Randi Streisand

Abstract

Objective: Recruitment and retention are paramount to the success of randomized controlled trials (RCTs); however, strategies and challenges to optimize recruitment and retention are often omitted from outcomes papers. The current manuscript presents strategies used to recruit and retain over 97% parents of young children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes for over 15-months post-randomization enrolled in First STEPS, a behavioral, two-site RCT.

Method: Participants included 157 primary caregivers of young children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Recruitment and retention strategies are described and include collaboration with medical teams, careful selection and training of study staff, inclusion of a behavioral run-in prior to randomization, financial incentives, creation of a study identity using retention items, obtainment of feedback from community stakeholders, and minimization of participant burden.

Results: Use of recruitment and retention strategies resulted in enrollment of 58% of eligible and reached families, with retention of the enrolled sample above 97% for over 15 months. Participants reported high acceptability of and satisfaction with specific recruitment and retention strategies.

Conclusions: The strategies used to recruit and retain caregivers of young children newly diagnosed with a chronic illness were feasible to implement within multidisciplinary diabetes clinics and may apply to other pediatric populations. Future research may benefit from a focus on strategies to engage more diverse samples.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02527525.

Keywords: Clinical trial; Recruitment; Retention; Type 1 diabetes.

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

The authors have indicated that they have no financial relationships relevant or known conflicts of interest to this article to disclose.