Clinical Trial Recruitment and Retention Strategies for Family Members in the ICU

Family engagement in the ICU is recommended by critical care professional societies, but insufficient evidence of its benefits for patients and family members has hindered clinical uptake. Thus, high-quality evidence is needed to promote and support family engagement practices. A specific unmet need is to identify strategies to improve the recruitment and retention of families in clinical trials in the ICU setting. The objective of this study is to evaluate recruitment and retention strategies for clinical trials involving family members in the ICU setting.

Methodological Approach: Investigators will use a Study Within a Trial (SWAT) design to embed a factorial randomized trial of 160 participants enrolled across investigator group's three ongoing studies involving family members of ICU patients: FAME, VR-Family, and NGAGE. Investigators expect 160 participants to be enrolled over a 6-month period. Participants will be randomized by 2x2 factorial design to selected recruitment and/or retention strategies. The co-primary outcomes will be (1) recruitment rate and (2) retention rate.

Inclusion criteria

• Has family member admitted to an intensive care unit.
• Expected hospital stay > 48 hours
• Able to participate in English or French

Exclusion criteria

• Has another family member participating in the trial
• Repeat admissions within the study period