Recruitment strategies for community-based pharmacy research

Rural communities are disproportionately burdened by opioid use disorder (OUD) and other opioid-related harms. Community pharmacies are an accessible health care touchpoint in rural areas and are well-positioned to provide prevention and treatment services. However, there is limited guidance on how to effectively engage rural pharmacies and patients in OUD research. Our objective is to describe research recruitment strategies for pharmacists and patients.

We engaged a rural practice-based research network to recruit pharmacists and patients for surveys and interviews aimed at improving understanding of opioid overdose prevention and treatment services. To maximize survey completion and ensure diverse participation in interviews, we used a multi-modal strategy designed for pharmacists, including email, personalized survey QR codes with mailed gift baskets, and phone calls. Patient recruitment was pharmacist mediated.

With 78 of 150 pharmacists (52%) completing the survey, we met our response goal of 50%. Completed surveys varied by recruitment method, including 51 (65%) from email outreach and 19 (24%) from personalized QR codes with mailed gift baskets. Fifty-four of the 78 pharmacists who completed the survey (69%) expressed interest in the interview and purposive sampling resulted in 16 completed interviews. A total of 73 patients were interested in interviews. Of those, 46 were fully screened, 45 met eligibility, and 20 completed interviews.

Successful recruitment for rural community pharmacists and patients for opioid-related research requires intentional, relationship-centered strategies. Multi-modal, low-burden contact improved rural pharmacist recruitment and pharmacists were key intermediaries for patient recruitment.