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The Ways Study Participants Don’t Comply and the Best Solution for Behavioral Change
A successful study depends on regular activity and completion of desired actions among participants. But, if you are a researcher, then you know that such dedication in clinical trials can be extremely hard to achieve sometimes. And often times it all starts when participants don’t provide truthful answers to questions asked during the screening/enrollment process. Once you have acknowledged the ways in which study participants can be non-adherent, what do you do next? Here are the most frequent ways study participants don’t comply to study guidelines and the best solution for optimal behavioral change.
We’ll start first with the list and then go into a few more detailed info.
List of ways study participants don’t comply during studies:
– They don’t take their medicine on time or as directed.
– They don’t follow study instructions.
– They don’t fill out journals or surveys on time or with careful thought.
– They read the consent form and other documents and don’t ask questions if they do not understand something.
– They don’t follow directions for proper use, dosing, and storage of self-administered study medications.
– They don’t know when the study begins and ends.
– They don’t show up at scheduled appointments on time and don’t inform the staff within a reasonable time if they need to reschedule an appointment.
– They don’t provide truthful answers to questions asked during screening/enrollment and during the study.
– They don’t inform staff if other medical care is needed while in the study.
– They don’t keep information about the study confidential, if asked to do so.
– They don’t keep staff informed when contact information (eg, phone number, address) changes.
When Study Participants Don’t Know Information About The Study
When designing and implementing a study, participant/patient compliance and confidentiality should always be top of mind. Despite this important intention among researchers, many participants refuse to ask questions about the consent form and other documents when they do not understand something. Because of this common mistake, some participants do not even know when the study begins or ends and also end up not following the directions of the study. Although this is probably hard to believe, some participants go as far as not keeping information about the study confidential even if asked to do so.
When Study Participants Don’t Follow Directions
Not knowing key information about the study means that the directions will rarely be followed. Some complaints that are constantly expressed by researchers are that a few of their participants do not adhere to study instructions such as filling out journals or surveys. In addition, not only do some participants refuse to take their medicine on time, these such subjects do not follow directions for proper use, dosing, and storage of self-administered study medications. Even when researchers emphasize that that the success of a study depends on proper medication adherence, following directions is often a challenge for certain participants.
When Study Participants Exhibit Poor Communication Skills
After spending time and money to enroll participants, isn’t it frustrating when they have poor communication skills throughout the study? While one participant may forget to keep staff informed when contact information like a phone number or address has changed, another may neglect to make the staff aware of essential medical care that is needed during the study. And the most annoying habit of all? Some participants repeatedly arrive late to scheduled appointments, and when they do not don’t inform the staff within a reasonable time if they need to reschedule an appointment, this is just icing on the cake!
Resolve These Common Issues With An Efficient Text Messaging Software
In order to combat these common non-adherent issues among patients, you need an effective text messaging software by your side. A proven software like Mosio is the best platform that researchers can use to communicate and engage with study participants since the text messages can be sent directly to the subject’s mobile phone. The advantages of using our text messaging software is that you can send automated reminders for medication adherence, show appreciation with text-based incentives, deliver SMS surveys that can be responded to efficiently, engage in a two-way text chat, send appointment reminders, shoot off participant/patient compliance confirmation, and much more. More importantly, our innovative text message platform can be used to motivate study participants to stay in the study and adhere to study guidelines. The fantastic news is that all of these important tasks can be personalized and automated, which makes it easy for staff to remain in contact with their participants through text messaging. After you repeatedly use our software, you’ll have a successful study that most researchers can only imagine. Now it can’t get even better than that!
Are you looking to improve participant engagement, increase retention, integrate text-based interventions, or collect data in your research? If so, contact us for a free consultation, or you can get quick access to our pricing guide here.
