Quantifying the recruitment challenges with couple-based interventions for cancer: applications to early-stage breast cancer.
OBJECTIVE: Despite mounting evidence supporting the use of psychosocial interventions to promote adaptation to cancer, enrolling participants into these interventions is challenging. This is particularly salient for couple-based interventions, and newer, more targeted recruitment strategies to increase enrollment are needed. However, there have been few published empirical studies focused specifically on recruitment-related variables associated with enrollment into these types of interventions. To better understand how to encourage participation in couple-based psychosocial interventions for cancer, we examined facilitating and impeding factors to enrollment into a couple-based intervention for women with early-stage breast cancer. METHOD: In this sample of 99 women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, patient demographic variables and method of approaching eligible patients were examined as predictors of enrollment into a randomized controlled trial comparing couple-based relationship enhancement with treatment as usual. RESULTS: Results indicated that women were more likely to enroll if they were contacted at home or at a follow-up medical appointment rather than when first diagnosed at a busy multidisciplinary clinic; they were also more likely to enroll the closer they lived to the research facility. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to decreasing participant burden, timing and setting of recruitment efforts may have important implications for enhancing participation rates in couple-based intervention studies for cancer.
Duke Scholars
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Related Subject Headings
- Sick Role
- Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
- Patient Selection
- Patient Acceptance of Health Care
- Oncology & Carcinogenesis
- Motivation
- Middle Aged
- Marital Therapy
- Male
- Humans
Citation
Published In
DOI
EISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Location
Related Subject Headings
- Sick Role
- Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
- Patient Selection
- Patient Acceptance of Health Care
- Oncology & Carcinogenesis
- Motivation
- Middle Aged
- Marital Therapy
- Male
- Humans