Theory-guided interviews identified behavioural barriers and enablers to healthcare professionals recruiting participants to maternity trials

Katie Gillies, Eilidh Duncan, Louisa Lawrie, Vivienne Hanrahan* (Corresponding Author), Linda Biesty

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)
21 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Abstract
Objective
To conduct a behavioral investigation, using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF), to identify barriers and enablers to maternity healthcare professionals (HCP) inviting all eligible women to participate in a maternity care trial.

Study design and setting
We invited HCP recruiters from maternity care trials in high priority research areas including, diabetes, preeclampsia and breastfeeding, from across Ireland and the UK, to take part in a semi-structured interview. Data collection was informed by the TDF, followed by inductive thematic analysis and deductive mapping to the TDF.

Results
Twenty-two recruiters including midwives, nurses, allied health professionals and doctors were interviewed online or by telephone phone. Thematic analysis generated four global themes; Availability and accessibility of resources, Navigating the recruitment pathway, Prioritising clinical responsibilities over research responsibilities and The influence of colleagues and peers. Themes were mapped to the TDF, identifying 13 domains relevant to the behaviour.

Conclusion
This paper identifies the factors enabling or inhibiting maternity HCP recruiters to invite all eligible women to participate in a maternity care trial. The findings provide guidance for researchers designing trials for this population and the essential first step in developing a recruiter-focused behaviour change intervention to support recruitment to trials in maternity care.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)81-91
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Clinical Epidemiology
Volume145
Early online date17 Feb 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2022

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank all the truly heroic maternity
healthcare providers who gave up their time during the
height of the pandemic to contribute to this study

Data Availability Statement

Supplementary materials
Supplementary material associated with this article can
be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.
2022.01.015.

Keywords

  • Randomised trials
  • Recruitment
  • Pregnancy
  • Maternity
  • Behaviour
  • Theory

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