Table 1 Recruitment methods and outcomes
Recruitment method | Amount or number of times | Associated cost of recruitment method | Number of families enquiring about the studya | Number of families recruited | Enquiries who were recruited |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Active methods | |||||
Referral from health professional | Health professionals (e.g. school nurses, hospital and community paediatricians, GPs, dieticians) were sent information and some professional meetings were attended by researchers (all sites) | Cost to health professional: excess treatment costs | 69 | 30 | 43.5 % |
65 health professionals telephoned us with details of a potential family (from across all sites) | |||||
On four occasions, a researcher attended an obesity clinic and the doctor referred families to the researcher (hospital covering Sites A and B) | Researcher time: 4 × ½ day plus travel | ||||
Targeted letter from health professional | Families for Health information provided with NCMP letter to overweight and obese children from year 6 (age 10–11 years) (n = approximately 600, from both Site A and Site C) | Postage | 16 | 13 | 81.3 % |
50 letters were sent by GPs to families of children identified on GP lists as being overweight or obese (Site C) | |||||
50 letters sent by Change4Life advisor to families on their case list (Site B) | |||||
Sub-total | 85 | 43 | 50.6 % | ||
Passive methods | |||||
School (poster, newsletter, flyer) | All primary schools in Sites B and C contacted twice, in Site C three times. | Researcher time for first contact: 2 days, second and third: ½ day | 30 | 24 | 80 % |
Contacts were a phone call on the first occasion, then emails. Flyers were sent out as requested by the schools. All schools were sent text that could be included in a school newsletter. | |||||
Postage or travel for delivering flyers | |||||
GP/hospital (poster, flyer) | Posters and flyers were sent to local primary-care surgeries and hospitals × 2 (all sites) | Postage | 25 | 19 | 76 % |
Community (poster, flyer) | Posters were sent to community venues such as libraries, children’s centres and leisure centres × 3 (all sites) | Postage | 5 | 4 | 80 % |
Flyer (unspecified) | Flyers distributed using methods described above but no details from potential participants where flyer was seen | 6 | 2 | 33 % | |
Public events | 9 events (10 days) across all sites: Site A: 2 events; Site B: 2 events: Site C: 5 events (6 days) | Researcher time (10 days) plus travel to event | 17 | 9 | 52.9 % |
Researcher attended public health and community events. This involved displaying information about the study, and scales and height meter to measure potential participants’ BMI. Families who had children with a high BMI were given further details of the study and contact details were taken if the family was interested in taking part. | |||||
Media (newspaper, radio, internet) | 4 radio interviews (Sites A and B) | Free | 9 | 9 | 100 % |
2 paid newspaper articles (Site C) | Cost of articles | ||||
5 free newspaper or magazine articles (all sites) | No cost incurred | ||||
Families for Health website | No cost incurred | ||||
NHS and local authority website, Twitter (all sites) | No cost incurred | ||||
Local newspaper Twitter feed | No cost incurred | ||||
3 adverts in Primary Care Research Network (PCRN) newsletter | No cost incurred | ||||
Word of mouth | – | No cost incurred | 7 | 5 | 71.4 % |
Sub-total | 99 | 72 | 72.7 % | ||
Total | 184 | 115 | 62.5 % | ||