Contribution of participant identification strategies to recruitment*
| Author, year | Type of intervention | Details | Screened, n | Randomised, n (% of screened) | Contribution, %† |
| Bhar et al, 201338 | Health service referral | Co-investigator’s Veteran’s Affairs mental health clinic | 45 | 24 (53) | 73 |
| Mass mailing | Primary care patients mailing list | 174 | 6 (3) | 18 | |
| Health service referral | Psychiatric outpatient clinic | 12 | 3 (25) | 9 | |
| Health service referral | Inpatient psychiatric unit | 2 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| Health service referral | Primary care physicians | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | |
| Chlebowski et al, 201040 | Mass mailing | Male home owners | 3961 | 600 (15) | 95 |
| Mass mailing | Spouses of previous female research participant | 61 | 34 (56) | 5 | |
| Heiney et al, 201042 | Mass mailing | Oncology clinic list | 78 | 15 (19) | 25 |
| Health service referral | Physician | 24 | 13 (54) | 22 | |
| Health service referral | Previous health research study | 161 | 11 (7) | 19 | |
| Other | Posters, newspaper articles, other | 33 | 10 (30) | 17 | |
| Mass mailing | Urology clinic list | 52 | 8 (15) | 14 | |
| Mass mailing | Support services department list | 12 | 2 (17) | 3 | |
| Kusek et al, 200244 | Media | Newspaper advertising and new stories | 1140 | 876 (77) | 30 |
| Mass mailing | Department of Motor Vehicles, screening lists and patient databases | 1022 | 783 (77) | 27 | |
| Health service referral | Urology clinic | 361 | 280 (78) | 10 | |
| Media | Radio advertising | 326 | 257 (79) | 9 | |
| Media | Inclusion in newsletters to military retirees and participating medical institutions | 325 | 245 (75) | 8 | |
| Media | Television news stories and public service announcements | 223 | 192 (86) | 7 | |
| Other | Word of mouth | 150 | 122 (81) | 4 | |
| Community outreach | Poster/display | 132 | 94 (71) | 3 | |
| Other | Not specified/unknown | 461 | 57 (12) | 2 | |
| Community outreach | Prostate health screening event | 30 | 25 (83) | 1 | |
| Lee et al, 201145 | Mass mailing | Postal invite—former trial participants, health system users and commercial direct mailing lists | 608 | 143 (24) | 39 |
| Media | Newspaper, radio and online advertising | 273 | 129 (47) | 35 | |
| Mass mailing | Email invite - university employees, physicians, database of people who registered interest in research | 87 | 31 (36) | 8 | |
| Health service referral | Urology clinic (chart review) | 52 | 30 (58) | 8 | |
| Other | Not specified | NR | 28 (NR) | 8 | |
| Community outreach | Posters and flyers | 12 | 8 (67) | 2 |
*Poor quality studies excluded.
†Contribution defined as the percentage of all participants randomised to the host randomised controlled trial who were randomised as a result of a particular recruitment strategy.
NR, not reported.