title: Participant Preferences for Pharmacologic Chronic Pain Treatment Trial Characteristics: An ACTTION Adaptive Choice-Based Conjoint Study.
abstract: Barriers to clinical trial recruitment can delay study completion, potentially resulting in increased costs and an unrepresentative sample. In the current study of 150 participants with chronic pain, we used a computerized adaptive choice-based conjoint survey that included 8 characteristics that may affect enrollment in pharmacologic pain treatment trials (ie, treatment allocation, frequency of pain ratings, treatment administration method, current medications, number of study visits, availability of evening and weekend visits, invasiveness of laboratory procedures, payment). These data were analyzed using Sawtooth Software ver. 8.4.8 (Sawtooth Software, Inc, Orem, UT), which identifies the characteristics that dominate participants' decisions across multiple sets of potential trials. Three characteristics had the largest relative importance in participants' trial preferences: 1) invasiveness of required laboratory procedures (ie, 22%), with no procedures or blood tests preferred over ice-water sensory testing or skin biopsy; 2) ability to continue current pain medications (21%); and 3) payment for study participation (21%), with higher payment preferred. The fourth most important characteristic was number of study visits (13%), with participants preferring fewer in-person visits and more phone contacts. Understanding the preferences of potential participants is an important step toward enhancing enrollment in pain treatment trials.
  
  
  
  This article presents the preferences of individuals with chronic pain conditions regarding modifiable pain treatment trial characteristics (eg, number of study visits, payment, treatment allocation). These findings may help to improve enrollment into analgesic clinical trials and in turn accelerate the development of new pain treatments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York. Electronic address: shannon1_smith@urmc.rochester.edu.
authors.forename: Shannon M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.
authors.forename: Jennifer S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Gewandter
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.
authors.forename: Rachel A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Kitt
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Markman
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.
authors.forename: Janet A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Vaughan
authors.affiliation: American Chronic Pain Association, Rocklin, California.
authors.forename: Penney
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cowan
authors.affiliation: Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc, Canton, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Ernest A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Kopecky
authors.affiliation: Teva Pharmaceuticals, North Wales, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malamut
authors.affiliation: Pfizer Inc, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Alesia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sadosky
authors.affiliation: Pfizer Inc, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tive
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
authors.forename: Dennis C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Turk
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York; Department of Neurology, and Psychiatry, and Center for Human Experimental Therapeutics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Dworkin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D057240:Patient Preference / Q000523:psychology*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics
keywords: Pain; conjoint analysis; randomized controlled trial; recruitment