Chronic pain research studies are important for both finding new treatments and improving existing treatments for individuals with chronic pain. For clinical trials to be effective, participants need to be engaged and willing to participate in treatment groups. Our research applies the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to understand how attitudes, perceived social norms, and perceived control over intervention engagement are associated with willingness to participate in interventions for chronic low back pain (CLBP).

Adult Michigan Medicine patients were identified using electronic medical records and emailed a link to an online, cross-sectional survey. Participants who self-reported CLBP, ability to read and write in English, and consented to participate were able to complete the survey (N = 405).

The results showed more positive attitudes, positive social norms, and higher perceived behavioral control related to specific chronic low back pain interventions are associated with greater willingness to participate after controlling for demographic and pain-related characteristics.

The findings suggest that TPB constructs may be useful in guiding recruitment efforts for chronic pain intervention trials.

To provide insights into the motivations, challenges, and preferred methods of contact that influence the recruitment and retention of young adults (YAs) in health research.

We designed, collected, and analyzed two surveys targeting YAs aged 18–39 years through the Amazon MTurk platform, to assess factors influencing recruitment and retention in health studies. The recruitment survey (n = 477) examined initial engagement motivations, while the retention survey (n = 473) explored factors that sustain long-term participation. Descriptive analyses were stratified by age group and sex.

The recruitment survey indicated that 88% of YAs were willing to participate in health studies, with a preference for online formats (78%). Social media, particularly Facebook (53%), was endorsed as the most common platform for discovering research opportunities. Monetary incentives were reported as the top motivator across all age groups, especially for those aged 35–39 years, with gift cards endorsed as the most appealing to participants aged 18–34. Retention survey results indicated that email (100%) was the most preferred method for maintaining engagement, followed by text messages (78.9%) and social media (62.2%). Text messages (65%), regular updates (56%) and sharing of study results (54%) were identified as key factors for maintaining participant engagement.

Our findings identify that YA participation is driven by a mix of altruistic motivations, such as contributing to the community and research, and personal motivations, including personal health benefits and financial incentives, emphasizing the need for strategies that address both aspects of recruitment and retention motivations.

To investigate factors influencing the recruitment and retention of adult community nurses.

The recruitment and retention of community nurses is a growing global challenge, exacerbated by aging populations and increasing demand for primary and home-based care. Across Europe, nurse shortages threaten healthcare sustainability, with high attrition rates linked to workplace pressures, inadequate staffing, and emotional exhaustion. Despite efforts to strengthen retention, many European countries struggle to maintain adequate staffing levels, particularly in community nursing.

An exploratory qualitative approach was used with semi-structured interviews. The interview schedule was shaped by the study’s aims, a prior integrative literature review, and the ‘causal model of turnover for nurses’. Questions explored participants’ experiences of recruitment into community nursing and factors influencing retention. The study focused on registered nurses and service managers within adult community nursing organizations across diverse geographical areas.

The study identified eight main themes influencing recruitment and retention: the perfect job, finding true self and fulfilment, alignment with organizational values, prior development and transitional experience, job dissatisfaction, shift in traditional practices, lack of compassionate leadership, and family commitments. Key factors included workplace flexibility, professional identity, job security, and organizational culture. However, challenges such as staffing shortages, lack of career progression, and increased administrative tasks were significant barriers to retention.

This study highlights the multifaceted challenges surrounding community nurse recruitment and retention, emphasizing the need for targeted strategies that go beyond traditional hospital-focused approaches. While salary improvements remain crucial, broader systemic changes including workplace flexibility, compassionate leadership, and career development opportunities are essential to fostering a sustainable workforce. By addressing these factors through co-designed solutions and evidence-based policy adjustments, healthcare organizations can enhance job satisfaction, reduce attrition, and ultimately strengthen the future of community nursing.

Lack of reliable, affordable transportation is a common barrier to clinical research participation, potentially contributing to health disparities. Insufficient and/or nonexistent institutional policies on research-related transportation make it challenging for research teams to effectively overcome transportation barriers and promote research participation among people from disadvantaged backgrounds. This study’s goal was to review research-related transportation policies across clinical research-involved institutions and propose recommendations for what such policies should address to help promote research engagement among diverse, representative populations.

We surveyed 28 recruitment sites, members of the National Institutes of Health-funded Healthy Brain and Child Development Consortium, poised to recruit over 7000 families, and completed an online search for each site’s policies relevant to research-related transportation (i.e., transportation of participants or research staff travel to/from research activities). We identified, reviewed, and thematically described content of the relevant policies and developed summary recommendations for institutional guidance components.

We identified seven policies (from five sites) on research-related transportation; four provided guidance on research-related transportation services; two on reimbursement; and one on when research staff transports participants. The online search identified publicly available business travel policies for 22 sites. No policy addressed research staff travel specifically for “study business” or research personnel transporting children for research purposes.

Few institutions involved in clinical research have policies guiding research-related transportation. Such policies, if adopted, could help support research-related transportation and, thus, participation of individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, increasing generalizability of research results and contributing toward reducing social and health disparities.

The hidden curriculum refers to the implicit norms and behaviors in academic environments that can particularly disadvantage scholars from backgrounds underrepresented in the scientific workforce (URSW). Critically, scientific mentors can support URSW mentees by making the hidden curriculum explicit to help these scholars navigate academia more effectively. However, mentors often lack the lived experience or training necessary to understand and fully address relevant hidden curriculum challenges.

We developed a set of 16 hidden curriculum competencies specifically for scientific mentors working with URSW mentees. A survey was conducted among diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility experts in translational science to assess the perceived importance of each competency. Their feedback was used to refine the final competencies, from which a conceptual framework was developed.

Survey results (n = 62) showed broad agreement on the competencies’ critical importance for mentoring across diversity, with several competencies, including identifying unconscious biases, acting as allies, and demystifying career pathways, receiving over 90% agreement for their importance for mentoring URSW mentees. Respondents from URSW backgrounds placed greater emphasis (p < 0.05) on several competencies, including understanding mentee perspectives, expanding professional networks, and allyship.

The 16 competencies, grouped into four domains (Foundation, Career, Science, and Overcoming Bias), collectively offer a comprehensive approach for mentors to build trust, support mentee career development, overcome practical barriers to mentee engagement in research, and actively combat bias. Our conceptual framework offers structured guidance for mentors and mentor training programs, identifying the skills needed to foster inclusive academic environments and enhance URSW retention and success.

Insufficient sample sizes threatened the fidelity of the primary research trials. Even if the research group recruits a sufficient sample size, the sample may lack diversity, reducing the generalizability of the results of the study. Evaluating the effectiveness of online advertising platforms (e.g., Facebook & Google Ads) versus traditional recruitment methods (e.g., flyers, clinical participation) is essential.

Patients were recruited through email, electronic direct message, paper advertisements, and word-of-mouth advertisement (traditional) or through Google Ads and Facebook Ads (advertising) for a longitudinal study on monitoring COVID-19 using wearable devices. Participants were asked to wear a smart watch-like wearable device for ∼ 24 hours per day and complete daily surveys.

The initiation conversion rate (ICR, impressions to pre-screen ratio) was better for traditional recruitment (24.14) than for Google Ads, 28.47 ([0.80, 0.88]; p << 0.001). The consent conversion rate (CCR, impressions to consent ratio) was also higher for traditional recruitment (66.54) than for Google Ads, 2961.20 ([0.015, 0.030]; p << 0.001). Participants recruited through recommendations or by paper flier were more likely to participate initially (Χ2 = 23.65; p < 0.005). Clinical recruitment led to more self-reporting white participants, while other methods yielded great diversity (Χ2 = 231.47; p << 0.001).

While Google Ads target users based on keywords, they do not necessarily improve participation. However, our findings are based on a single study with specific recruitment strategies and participant demographics. Further research is needed to assess the generalizability of these findings across different study designs and populations.

Clinical research professionals (CRPs) are essential members of research teams serving in multiple job roles. However, recent turnover rates have reached crisis proportions, negatively impacting clinical trial metrics. Gaining an understanding of job satisfaction factors among CRPs working at academic medical centers (AMCs) can provide insights into retention efforts.

A survey instrument was developed to measure key factors related to CRP job satisfaction and retention. The survey included 47 rating items in addition to demographic questions. An open-text question solicited respondents to provide their top three factors for job satisfaction. The survey was distributed through listservs of three large AMCs. Here, we present a factor analysis of the instrument and quantitative and qualitative results of the subsequent survey.

A total of 484 CRPs responded to the survey. A principal components analysis with Varimax rotation was performed on the 47 rating items. The analysis resulted in seven key factors and the survey instrument was reduced to 25 rating items. Self-efficacy and pride in work were top ranked in the quantitative results; work complexity and stress and salary and benefits were top ranked in the qualitative findings. Opportunities for education and professional development were also themes in the qualitative data.

This study addresses the need for a tool to measure job satisfaction of CRPs. This tool may be useful for additional validation studies and research to measure the effectiveness of improvement initiatives to address CRP job satisfaction and retention.