Challenges, Potential Solutions in Recruiting and Retaining Participants for Alcohol Use Disorder Research: A...

This review aimed to identify the participant-, logistical-, and system-level factors that impede recruitment and retention in AUD research; to examine the strategies proposed to address them, including community-based and technology-assisted approaches; and to appraise the strength of the evidence supporting each strategy in order to define priorities for future work.

A narrative review with thematic content analysis was conducted. PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Embase were searched for records published between 1990 and 2026, supplemented by reference-list screening of included studies and relevant reviews. Records were eligible if they addressed recruitment, enrolment, retention, attrition, engagement, or follow-up in AUD or alcohol-related research. Given heterogeneity in design, population, and setting, findings were synthesized thematically rather than pooled statistically; a formal risk-of-bias assessment was not undertaken, although study design, sample characteristics, and author-reported limitations informed interpretation.

Sixteen challenges were identified across four domains: participant-level, access and logistics, study design, and system-level. Barriers were consistently better characterized than their remedies. The strategies with the most direct support were multimodal participant tracking, which sustained 81% retention at twelve months in an emergency department substance use cohort, and multidisciplinary or collaborative care structures, which produced the largest engagement differences observed.

Attrition in AUD research is substantially a function of modifiable study design decisions rather than fixed participant characteristics. Priorities for future work include trials with research retention as a prespecified primary outcome, comparative evaluation of compensation structures, and standardized reporting of screening, enrolment, and attrition data.