Increasing financial incentives can lower the cost of trial recruitment
Abstract Monetary incentives are commonly used to help recruit trial participants. Some studies have found greater recruitment with larger incentives, while others have found smaller incentives more cost-effective in terms of cost per participant. As part of an implementation study, we compared the...
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BMC
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Trials |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-024-08674-w |
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| author | Alan Schwartz Saul J. Weiner Molly Harrod |
| author_facet | Alan Schwartz Saul J. Weiner Molly Harrod |
| author_sort | Alan Schwartz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Monetary incentives are commonly used to help recruit trial participants. Some studies have found greater recruitment with larger incentives, while others have found smaller incentives more cost-effective in terms of cost per participant. As part of an implementation study, we compared the impact of four approaches to recruitment, three of which involved phone recruitment with varying financial incentives. Adding modest financial incentives reliably increased the recruitment ratio, and greater incentives increased recruitment more than smaller incentives. However, recruiters required less time to obtain agreement to participate when the greater incentive was offered, and these time savings made the greater incentive cost-saving relative to the smaller incentive and cost-effective relative to no incentive. Our results suggest the possibility of a “sweet spot” for financial incentives, and that trial designers should consider pilot-testing incentive levels in the context of their other recruitment costs to determine whether paying participants more may be cost-saving for trial sponsors. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0e17587ea7f142ef996b97a718005a2a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1745-6215 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Trials |
| spelling | doaj-art-0e17587ea7f142ef996b97a718005a2a2024-12-22T12:45:58ZengBMCTrials1745-62152024-12-012511310.1186/s13063-024-08674-wIncreasing financial incentives can lower the cost of trial recruitmentAlan Schwartz0Saul J. Weiner1Molly Harrod2Department of Medical Education, University of Illinois at ChicagoDepartment of Medical Education, University of Illinois at ChicagoCenter for Clinical Management Research, Health Service Research & Development, LTC Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare SystemAbstract Monetary incentives are commonly used to help recruit trial participants. Some studies have found greater recruitment with larger incentives, while others have found smaller incentives more cost-effective in terms of cost per participant. As part of an implementation study, we compared the impact of four approaches to recruitment, three of which involved phone recruitment with varying financial incentives. Adding modest financial incentives reliably increased the recruitment ratio, and greater incentives increased recruitment more than smaller incentives. However, recruiters required less time to obtain agreement to participate when the greater incentive was offered, and these time savings made the greater incentive cost-saving relative to the smaller incentive and cost-effective relative to no incentive. Our results suggest the possibility of a “sweet spot” for financial incentives, and that trial designers should consider pilot-testing incentive levels in the context of their other recruitment costs to determine whether paying participants more may be cost-saving for trial sponsors.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-024-08674-wFinancial incentiveRecruitmentCost-effectivenessClinical trial |
| spellingShingle | Alan Schwartz Saul J. Weiner Molly Harrod Increasing financial incentives can lower the cost of trial recruitment Trials Financial incentive Recruitment Cost-effectiveness Clinical trial |
| title | Increasing financial incentives can lower the cost of trial recruitment |
| title_full | Increasing financial incentives can lower the cost of trial recruitment |
| title_fullStr | Increasing financial incentives can lower the cost of trial recruitment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Increasing financial incentives can lower the cost of trial recruitment |
| title_short | Increasing financial incentives can lower the cost of trial recruitment |
| title_sort | increasing financial incentives can lower the cost of trial recruitment |
| topic | Financial incentive Recruitment Cost-effectiveness Clinical trial |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-024-08674-w |
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