Recruitment and accrual of women in a randomized controlled trial of spinal manipulation

Abstract

Objective: To report on recruitment efforts and accrual rates for a nonmusculoskeletal chiropractic clinical trial.

Design: Information regarding the method of recruitment was collected for each individual who responded to an advertisement and completed an interviewer-administered telephone screening.

Setting: A suburban chiropractic teaching clinic with recruitment efforts extending throughout the larger metropolitan area.

Patients: A total of 2312 women were screened for participation and the advertisement source was noted for each. Of these, 138 women were recruited and fulfilled all study requirements.

Main outcome measures: The numbers of responses and accrual rates were determined for 8 different recruitment methods: newspaper advertisements, community referrals, radio advertisements, community colleges, press releases, a community electronic sign, public television, and local posters.

Results: The most effective recruitment methods were newspaper advertisements, community referrals, and radio advertisements; the least effective methods were public television and local posters.

Conclusions: The effort required for the recruitment of subjects was underestimated in this study. Based on the information gained, future recruitment methods for study participants will primarily focus on low-effort, high-yield methods such as newspaper and radio advertising, followed by press releases, campus electronic signs, and public television.