Successful recruitment and retention of diverse participants in research studies improves the generalizability of findings and enhances the ability to discover new ways to improve care and outcomes for all patients. Unfortunately, enrolling participants in research can be complicated as motivations for research participation are varied. But by returning value to research participants, researchers and funders can address multiple drivers of research participation. Not only that, but leveraging digital tools and methods can also directly address some practical barriers to engagement by mitigating limitations related to cost and scale.
In a new Health Affairs blog post, my colleagues from NORC at The University of Chicago and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research institute outline some of these digital strategies coming out of our work with the Participant-Driven Research Community Learning Network and offer key insights for both researchers and research funders.
Read the full blog post on Health Affairs here and, for more information, read the full issue brief on this topic here.