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Published on: February 2, 2017
Evaluation of recruitment methods for a trial targeting childhood obesity: Families for Health randomised controlled
J Fleming1, A Kamal2, E Harrison3
1Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK. j.l.m.fleming@warwick.ac.uk.
Insights
Recruiting children for obesity trials is hard. Passive recruitment methods, like flyers and community events, were more successful than active methods in the Families for Health study.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Public Health Interventions
- Clinical Trial Recruitment
Background:
- Childhood obesity management trials face recruitment challenges.
- The Families for Health study evaluated a family-based community program for children aged 6-11 years.
- This study compared active versus passive recruitment strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the effectiveness of active versus passive recruitment strategies for a childhood obesity intervention trial.
- To identify optimal methods for recruiting families to childhood obesity treatment studies.
- To understand factors influencing successful recruitment in pediatric health research.
Main Methods:
- Employed passive recruitment (media, flyers, events) and active recruitment (direct contact, GP referrals).
- Collected data on enquiry sources and recruitment success rates.
- Utilized quantitative and qualitative methods, including interviews, to gather insights on recruitment.
Main Results:
- Passive recruitment yielded a higher recruitment rate (72.7%) compared to active recruitment (50.6%).
- Information displayed at schools and GP surgeries was highly effective, accounting for significant enquiries and recruitment.
- Despite varied strategies, the trial did not meet initial recruitment targets, necessitating an extension.
Conclusions:
- Passive recruitment strategies may be more effective due to broader reach and repeated exposure.
- Utilizing multiple recruitment strategies, combining broad coverage with targeted approaches, is advisable for child obesity studies.
- Recruitment for pediatric obesity interventions is complex and requires multifaceted approaches.
Background:
Recruitment to trials evaluating the effectiveness of childhood obesity management interventions is challenging. We report our experience of recruitment to the Families for Health study, a randomised controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of a family-based community programme for children aged 6-11 years, versus usual care. We evaluated the effectiveness of active recruitment (contacting eligible families directly) versus passive recruitment (informing the community through flyers, public events, media).
Methods:
Initial approaches included passive recruitment via the media (newspapers and radio) and two active recruitment methods: National Child Measurement Programme (letters to families with overweight children) and referrals from health-care professionals. With slow initial recruitment, further strategies were employed, including active (e.g. targeted letters from general practices) and passive (e.g. flyers, posters and public events) methods. At first enquiry from a potential participant, families were asked where they heard about the study. Further quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative data (one-to-one interviews with parents/carers), were collected from recruited families at baseline and 3-month follow-up and included questions about recruitment.
Results:
In total, 194 families enquired about Families for Health, and 115 (59.3 %) were recruited and randomised. Active recruitment yielded 85 enquiries, with 43 families recruited (50.6 %); passive recruitment yielded 99 enquiries with 72 families recruited (72.7 %). Information seen at schools or GP surgeries accounted for over a quarter of enquiries (28.4 %) and over a third (37.4 %) of final recruitment. Eight out of ten families who enquired this way were recruited. Media-led enquiries were low (5 %), but all were recruited. Children of families recruited actively were more likely to be Asian or mixed race. Despite extensive recruitment methods, the trial did not recruit as planned, and was awarded a no-cost extension to complete the 12-month follow-up.
Conclusions:
The higher number of participants recruited through passive methods may be due to the large number of potential participants these methods reached and because participants may see the information more than once. Recruiting to a child obesity treatment study is complex and it is advisable to use multiple recruitment strategies, some aiming at blanket coverage and some targeted at families with children who are overweight.
Trial Registration:
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN45032201 (Date: 18 August 2011).
