Real-time evaluation and adaptation to facilitate rapid recruitment in a large, prospective cohort study

Table 3 DETECT-A Recruitment Timeline

	Recruitment Methods							Cumulative Enrollment Metrics
Month of Recruitment (Month # and abbreviation)	Mass Mailings (M)¹	Referrals (R)²	Flyers (F)³	Social Media (S)	News Media (NM)	Newsletters (N)	Community Outreach Events (C)	Locations Used	Locations Available	Enrolled per Month	Enrolled
M1 Aug	M¹	R¹	F¹					0	0	0	0
M2 Sep	M¹	R¹	F¹				C	2	2	36	36
M3 Oct	M¹	R¹	F¹	S	NM			4	4	364	400
M4 Nov	M¹	R¹	F¹	S	NM			3	4	621	1021
M5 Dec	M¹	R¹	F¹	S			C	4	4	464	1485
M6 Jan	M¹	R¹	F¹					4	5	629	2114
M7 Feb		R¹	F¹	S				5	5	403	2517
M8 Mar		R¹	F²			N		7	7	564	3081
M9 Apr		R¹	F²		NM			8	8	491	3572
M10 May		R¹	F²	S				9	14	581	4153
M11 Jun		R¹	F²	S				14	18	470	4623
M12 Jul		R¹	F²					10	18	284	4907
M13 Aug		R¹	F²		NM	N		14	18	552	5459
M14 Sep	M²	R¹	F²	S			C	15	18	577	6036
M15 Oct	M²	R¹	F²	S		N	C	16	20	666	6702
M16 Nov	M³	R¹	F²	S		N	C	16	21	462	7164
M17 Dec	M³	R²	F²	S		N	C	15	21	310	7474
M18 Jan	M³	R²	F²	S	NM	N		15	22	566	8040
M19 Feb	M³	R²	F²			N		15	22	537	8577
M20 Mar	M³	R²	F²			N		16	22	555	9132
M21 Apr		R²	F²			N		16	22	670	9803
M22 May		R²	F²			N		14	22	204	10,007

¹Initial mass mailings (M¹) included an invitation letter and a return postcard. At month 14, the return postcard was replaced by an information card (M²) that featured a photo of study participants. At month 16, the details from both the information card and invitation letter were incorporated into a single invitation card (M³)
²Initial referrals (R¹) were accepted from physicians, research staff, and participants. At month 17, we added a Refer-A-Friend program (R²) until enrollment ended
³Initial flyers (F¹) included only text and were printed by study staff. At month 8, Geisinger’s Marketing and Communications department designed flyers (F²) with stock photos and tear-off contact information

ISSN: 1472-6963