Experiments in Participant Recruitment for Effectiveness Research

Sanford L. BraverArizona State UniversityPrevention Research Center

Recruitment of Participants is a Huge Issue in Voluntary Preventive Interventions

Non Captive Audience Generally Very Low Participation

Rates (p) Reported in the Literature Actually, Often Hard to Know

Participation Rate for Published Studies, Since Often Unreported

Or Participants Recruited in a Way Impossible to Compute Rates of Refusal, Participation, etc.

Why Is Recruitment Rate Important?

Need to Mount Effectiveness Trial Population Impact Fraction

PIF=p X effect size (ES) for treated participants

For Greater Population Impact, Want to Recruit More (Raise p) Without Jeopardizing ES

Baseline X Treatment Interactions Might Imply the More Who Participate, the Smaller the Effect Size

Pro

ble

mati

c La

ter

Outc

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Initial Level of Problems

Intervention ConditionControl

Low p

ES

High p

Smaller ES

Effectiveness Research on Divorce Intervention: New Beginnings

Under New Funding, Want to Evaluate Recruitment Methods in Preparation for a Multi-Site Trial

Two Variants Group Recruitment Method Individual Recruitment Method

Need Both for Different Kinds of Settings

Evaluate Each One Separately Not Trying to Compare

Group Recruitment Method

A Majority of Counties Require People Requesting a Divorce to Come to a Short Mandatory Parent Education “Course”

Maricopa: PIP Much More Common in Large

Counties

Experiment 1: Short-to-Long (STL)

Recruitment Attempt Within PIP Session Requesting Later Voluntary Participation in Longer NBP

Four Conditions, Administered to About 8 PIP Sessions Each, Randomly Selected, Each Session Containing About 25 Individuals

Recruitment Via Videotape, to Standardize, Easily Export, “Jazz Up” Video Recruitment Has Been Used

Successfully in Several Past Prevention Studies

Experimental Conditions

1. Control: Business-As-Usual Recruitment • Pass out Info Pamphlet

2. Video Control• Same as Pamphlet, But Presented on Video

3. Motivational Video, With Compliance Techniques

4. Motivational Video, With Compliance Techniques Plus “Examined Participation” Techniques

Motivational Video

Informed by Robert Cialdini’s Analysis of Motivational Principles of Effective Recruitment

1. Social Validation2. Liking3. Legitimate Authority4. Scarcity5. Reciprocation6. Commitment/Consistency

o Cialdini is a Co-Investigator

Examined Participation Video

All of the Above Plus: An additional component (based on the

commitment/consistency principle) that guides parents through active identification and public declaration of worries about child.

Parents will be informed that if they have these worries, participation in NBP has been shown to be of benefit.

Proposed Analysis

Outcome (Participation) Variables level of interest in participating verbally agreed to participate attended first NBP session completed the NBP number of NBP sessions attended

Level of Risk will also be assessed, and Participation by Risk Level By Condition Will Be Examined

Individual Recruitment: Family Transitions Guide (FTG)

At-Risk Families Divided at Random Into Two Groups Control: Business-As-Usual: Pamphlet Experimental: Get Assigned to FTG

Ordered or Encouraged By Judge In Case To Meet With FTG, A Court Employee

Each Parent Meets FTG Twice, Individually

Meetings With FTG

Helps Parent to Self-Assess Goals and Needs of Family

Uses Variation of Motivational Interviewing Helps Family Identify Programs To Participate in

That Meet Needs Refers to Programs that Meets Needs NBP and 2 Other Evidence-Based Programs Yet

to Be Chosen All 3 Programs Provided By Community

Providers, Under Contract to Court According to Usual Procurement System

Variety of Locations, Times, and Providers Free of Cost Initially

Proposed Analysis

Main Outcome is Participation, Relative to Control

Very Important Secondary Set of Outcomes Involve Family and Child Functioning Indexes

Assessed By Standardized Telephone Interviews, Blind to Condition

Conducted By Independent ASU Assessment Team “to Help Court Evaluate How Citizens React to Court Programs”

Analysis Issue

What is “The Treatment”? Is Any Improvement in Outcomes of

Experimental Group Relative to Control Due to: Participation in the 3 Programs? If so, Which Ones? The FTG Itself? The Combination of All of the Above: The

System? Not Randomly Assigned, So How to

Tease Out?

It’s A Compound or “Adaptive” Intervention (Collins, Murphy & Bierman, 2004) “The intervention” is construed to “consist of not

only the treatment components, but the treatment components inextricably coupled with the entire system of assigning [components]”

“It is straightforward to address the overall question of ‘is the intervention efficacious?’…. [However,] absent additional assumptions it is not possible …to isolate the effects of one component within a single adaptive intervention treatment condition.”

Aren’t All Interventions, At Some Level, Compound?