title: Effectiveness of monetary incentives to recruit family physicians as study subjects: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recruiting family physicians to participate as subjects of clinical studies is challenging. Monetary incentives are often used to increase enrolment, but few studies have measured the impact of doing so. As part of a trial seeking to compare two formats of interactive activities within an online continuing medical education (CME) program, we compared family physicians' recruitment rates with and without a monetary incentive. Recruitment took place by email.
  
  
  METHODS
  Family physicians listed in the directory of the College of Physicians of the Province of Quebec (Canada) were emailed a one-page letter inviting them to participate in a randomized trial designed to evaluate a three-hour online CME program on rheumatology. Half of physicians were randomly allocated to receive a version of the letter that offered them $300 to participate (incentive group); the other half was not offered compensation (no-incentive group).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 1314 (91%) physicians had a valid email address as listed in the directory. The response rate was 7.5% (54/724) in the incentive group and 2.6% (19/724) in the no-incentive group (absolute difference [AD] 4.8%, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 2.6 - 7.2%; risk ratio [RR] 2.8, 95% CI = 1.7 - 4.7). Recruitment rates were 3.5% (25/724) in the incentive group and 0.6% (4/724) in the no-incentive group (AD 2.9%, 95% CI = 1.5 - 4.5%; RR 6.3, 95% CI = 2.2 - 17.9).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Monetary incentives significantly increased recruitment, which nonetheless remained low. To reach recruitment targets, researchers are advised to plan for an extensive list of email contacts and to minimize restrictive eligibility criteria.
authors.affiliation: Office of Education and Continuing Professional Development, University Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada. anik.giguere@fmed.ulaval.ca.|Department of Family and Emergency Medicine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada. anik.giguere@fmed.ulaval.ca.|Research Center of the CHU de Québec, Quebec, QC, Canada. anik.giguere@fmed.ulaval.ca.|Department of Family and Emergency Medicine, Université Laval, Pavillon Ferdinand-Vandry, room 2881-C, 1050 avenue de la Médecine, Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada. anik.giguere@fmed.ulaval.ca.
authors.forename: Anik M C
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Giguere
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Emergency Medicine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada. Michel.Labrecque@fmed.ulaval.ca.|Research Center of the CHU de Québec, Quebec, QC, Canada. Michel.Labrecque@fmed.ulaval.ca.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Labrecque
authors.affiliation: Office of Education and Continuing Professional Development, University Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada. francineborduas@videotron.ca.|Department of Family and Emergency Medicine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada. francineborduas@videotron.ca.
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Borduas
authors.affiliation: Office of Education and Continuing Professional Development, University Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada. rouleaum@globetrotter.net.|Department of Family and Emergency Medicine, Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada. rouleaum@globetrotter.net.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rouleau
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D034742:Electronic Mail; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D010816:Physician Incentive Plans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000523:psychology*; D011792:Quebec; D012219:Rheumatology / Q000193:education*