Obtaining outpatient referrals for clinical research.
Two methods of recruiting patients with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) were compared. One hundred general practitioners in the immediate neighbourhood of a major urban hospital were approached for referrals, and an article on generalised anxiety asking for volunteers was placed in the evening newspaper. The former resulted in ten doctor-initiated referrals, two of whom fulfilled DSM-III criteria for GAD. The latter resulted in over 500 volunteers. In a random selection of 136 volunteers who secured their doctors' approval, 56 fulfilled GAD criteria. The majority of the remainder had a depressive illness. The newspaper article was more economical of researchers' time and more successful in finding suitable subjects than directly approaching general practitioners.
Tiller
J W
JW
Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria.
Biddle
N
N
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D005194:Family Practice; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D012017:Referral and Consultation
D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents