Lessons learned from recruiting young female students to a randomised controlled trial of chlamydia screening

Recruitment is a problem in many trials. Two female medical students offered to help with recruiting problems in a community-based trial of chlamydia screening to prevent pelvic inflammatory disease. We need to recruit 2500 sexually active female students and ask them to provide a self-taken low vaginal swab and complete a questionnaire with follow-up after a year.

To identify recruitment difficulties in a community-based trial of chlamydia screening and to investigate how they might be overcome.

Descriptive study.

London South Bank and Kingston Universities.

The students observed the recruitment methods used for the first 4 months of the trial. This comprised single researchers recruiting individual women in student bars and common rooms. With the researchers they piloted a new method of group recruitment with pairs of researchers making announcements at the end of lectures after first sending out all male students and those aged>25 years. This involved extra time planning and liaising with the lecturers in advance of recruitment sessions.

The recruitment rate had been averaging only 25 participants per week. Many students were ineligible: never been sexually active, too old, recently been tested for chlamydia. Many eligible students were reluctant to take part because of embarrassment or anxiety about providing a swab. Using a new method of group recruitment after lectures we recruited 192 participants in 2 weeks.

For a study on a sensitive topic, two researchers recruiting women in groups after lectures may be a more effective and cost-effective way than individual recruitment by researchers working alone.