Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Recruitment and retention are paramount to the success of randomized controlled trials (RCTs); however, strategies and challenges to optimize recruitment and retention are often omitted from outcomes papers. The current manuscript presents strategies used to recruit and retain over 97% parents of young children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes for over 15-months post-randomization enrolled in First STEPS, a behavioral, two-site RCT. METHOD: Participants included 157 primary caregivers of young children newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Recruitment and retention strategies are described and include collaboration with medical teams, careful selection and training of study staff, inclusion of a behavioral run-in prior to randomization, financial incentives, creation of a study identity using retention items, obtainment of feedback from community stakeholders, and minimization of participant burden. RESULTS: Use of recruitment and retention strategies resulted in enrollment of 58% of eligible and reached families, with retention of the enrolled sample above 97% for over 15 months. Participants reported high acceptability of and satisfaction with specific recruitment and retention strategies. CONCLUSIONS: The strategies used to recruit and retain caregivers of young children newly diagnosed with a chronic illness were feasible to implement within multidisciplinary diabetes clinics and may apply to other pediatric populations. Future research may benefit from a focus on strategies to engage more diverse samples. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02527525.