Do messages of scarcity increase trial recruitment?
BACKGROUND
Psychological theory suggests that participants may be more likely to volunteer to join a clinical trial if they perceive places in the trial are a scarce commodity.


METHODS
We conducted a single blind, randomized controlled trial to test recruitment strategies within the larger txt2stop smoking cessation trial. 1862 people who were eligible for the txt2stop trial but had not yet consented to join were randomized to receive either A) a reminder about the txt2stop trial plus a message that there were only 300 places left, or B) a reminder about the trial only. The outcome was the participant's consent to join the txt2stop trial 3days after messages were sent.


RESULTS
Of 895 participants randomized to the intervention group, 90 (10.1%) had consented to join the txt2stop trial. Of the 967 participants randomized to the control group, 67 (6.9%) had consented to join the txt2stop trial (OR=1.50, 95% CI 1.07-2.12).


CONCLUSIONS
Scarcity messages were an effective way to increase recruitment into the txt2stop trial and could be relevant to other trials.


CONCLUSIONS
Communicating scarcity is an effective way to increase trial recruitment.
Free
Caroline J
CJ
Nutrition and Public Health Interventions Research Department, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London, UK. caroline.free@lshtm.ac.uk
Hoile
Elizabeth
E
Knight
Rosemary
R
Robertson
Steven
S
Devries
Karen M
KM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D006801:Humans; D040541:Marketing; D008875:Middle Aged; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D018579:Patient Selection; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D055815:Young Adult