USING COLLABORATIVE NETWORK DATA TO RECRUIT RURAL RESIDENTS FOR PARTICIPATION IN PROSPECTIVE CANCER SYMPTOM RESEARCH: A PILOT STUDY

Stephanie Gilbertson-White; Heath Davis; Ash Hoberg; Laura Jacobus; Jamie Sorensen; Kenneth Nepple

Rural residents experience barriers in access to cancer clinical research resulting in underrepresentation of their experiences in the literature. Collaborative research networks such as Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) and TriNetX that use blanket consents, cohort identification, and structured data models can be leveraged to recruit underrepresented populations for symptom management research. ORIENs use of a blanket consent in which new patients seeking cancer care are approached about participating in research including permission to be re-contacted about studies for which they eligible as their diagnosis and treatment plan unfolds. With IRB approval, this consent framework creates a resource for researchers to identify and invite research participants more efficiently. The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility of using collaborative research networks to recruit rural residents to a cancer symptom management study. Our goal is to recruit 50 participants. Inclusion criteria were developed by the investigators and a TriNetX data specialist to identify potential participants, specifically >=18 years, diagnosis of cancer (using ICD codes), received treatment within past 6 months. The identified cohort was then cross-mapped to the list of individuals who signed the blanket ORIEN consent. The final list of potential participants was then securely passed to the research team via REDCap. Finally, rural-urban commuting area codes were added, allowing us to target recruitment to individuals living in rural communities. (Figure 1.) Recruitment emails were automatically sent via REDCap to 405 potential participants on 12/30/2023. The email consisted of a brief description of the study and screening questions. Interested individuals clicked the REDCap link directing them the e-consent. Once the e-consent was completed, REDCap then provided the baseline questionnaires (e.g. demographics, symptom burden) using a completely "touchless" process. Within 6 days of the email 43 of 405 individuals completed the consent and baseline questionnaires with zero follow-up contacts representing a 10% response rate and 86% of our planned sample. TriNetX cohort identification tools allowed us to precisely identify individuals likely to meet inclusion criteria. The ORIEN blanket consent streamlined the process such that only people who previously indicated interest in participating in research. The recruitment rate is promising given the timing and "touchless" approach. This pilot demonstrates that network research resources can be highly effective in recruiting underrepresented populations for symptom management research.

USING COLLABORATIVE NETWORK DATA TO RECRUIT RURAL RESIDENTS FOR PARTICIPATION IN PROSPECTIVE CANCER SYMPTOM RESEARCH: A PILOT STUDY

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