UK research staff perspectives on improving recruitment and retention to primary care research; nominal group exercise.
BACKGROUND
Primary care studies often encounter recruitment difficulties, but there is little evidence to inform solutions. As part of a National Institute for Health Research School for Primary Care Research and UK Clinical Research Network programme, we elicited research staff perspectives on factors facilitating or obstructing recruitment.


OBJECTIVE
To identify factors that experienced research staff consider important in successful recruitment and retention and their confidence in achieving them.


METHODS
An iterative series of three workshops was held. The third used a modified nominal group technique to categorize whether factors related to the 'context' in which the research took place, the 'content' of the study or the recruitment 'process' and to prioritize them by their importance to success.


RESULTS
Eighteen research staff participated in the prioritization workshop. They prioritized positive attitudes of primary care staff towards research and trust of researchers by potential participants as major contextual factors affecting recruitment. Studies needed to be considered safe and relevant by staff and fit with practice systems. They proposed that researchers strengthen relationships with staff and participants and minimize workload for primary care teams. Although confident in many recruitment processes, respondents remained uncertain how to achieve cultural change so that research became part of normal practice activity and how best to motivate patients to participate.


CONCLUSIONS
Research workers taking part identified factors which might be important in recruitment, several of which they expressed little confidence in addressing. Understanding how to improve recruitment is crucial if current efforts to strengthen primary care research are to bear fruit.
Graffy
Jonathan
J
University of Cambridge, UK. jonathan.graffy@phpc.cam.ac.uk
Grant
Julie
J
Boase
Sue
S
Ward
Elaine
E
Wallace
Paul
P
Miller
Julia
J
Kinmonth
Ann Louise
AL
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004493:Education; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D011320:Primary Health Care; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012106:Research; D006113:United Kingdom