title: Recruiting participants for randomized controlled trials of music therapy: a practical illustration.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Failure to recruit sufficient numbers of participants to randomized controlled trials is a common and serious problem. This problem may be additionally acute in music therapy research.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To use the experience of conducting a large randomized controlled trial of music therapy for young people with emotional and behavioral difficulties to illustrate the strategies that can be used to optimize recruitment; to report on the success or otherwise of those strategies; and to draw general conclusions about the most effective approaches.
  
  
  METHODS
  Review of the methodological literature, and a narrative account and realist analysis of the recruitment process.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The strategies adopted led to the achievement of the recruitment target of 250 subjects, but only with an extension to the recruitment period. In the pre-protocol stage of the research, these strategies included the engagement of non-music therapy clinical investigators, and extensive consultation with clinical stakeholders. In the protocol development and initial recruitment stages, they involved a search of systematic reviews of factors leading to under-recruitment and of interventions to promote recruitment, and the incorporation of their insights into the research protocol and practices. In the latter stages of recruitment, various stakeholders including clinicians, senior managers and participant representatives were consulted in an attempt to uncover the reasons for the low recruitment levels that the research was experiencing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The primary mechanisms to promote recruitment are education, facilitation, audit and feedback, and time allowed. The primary contextual factors affecting the effectiveness of these mechanisms are professional culture and organizational support.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast s.porter@qub.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast.
authors.forename: Tracey
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McConnell
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lynn
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast.
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McLaughlin
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cardwell
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Queen's University Belfast School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen's University Belfast School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences, Queen's University Belfast.
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Holmes
mesh_terms: D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009147:Music Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D018579:Patient Selection; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012107:Research Design; D018401:Sample Size
keywords: accrual; randomization; randomized controlled trials; recruitment; stakeholders