Recruitment and retention challenges and strategies in randomized controlled trials of psychosocial interventions for children with cancer and their parents: a collective case study

Abstract

In pediatric oncology there are few examples of successful recruitment and retention strategies in psychosocial care research. This study aims to summarize experiences, challenges, and strategies for conducting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from psychosocial intervention studies among children with cancer and their parent(s). MethodsWe conducted a collective case study. To identify the cases, Pubmed and two trial registries were searched for ongoing and nished RCTs of psychosocial intervention studies for children with cancer and their parents. Online semi-structured expert interviews discussing recruitment and retention challenges and strategies were performed with principal investigators and research staff members of the intervention studies. ResultsNine studies were identi ed. Investigators and staff from seven studies participated, highlighting challenges and strategies within three major themes: eligibility, enrollment and retention. Regarding Performing RCTs is challenging, particularly in pediatric psychosocial research when both the child and parent are targeted. Recruitment and retention are common concerns. In pediatric oncology, there are few examples of successful recruitment and retention strategies in psychosocial care research. What's NewKey strategies to collaborate constructively with healthcare professionals were outlined. Being exible, training the research staff, alignment with the participant's situations and providing consistency in contact between the research staff member and the families were considered as essential strategies.