Do participant testimony videos make people more interested in taking part in a clinical trial? A randomised Study Within a Trial (SWAT), registration SWAT203

Background: Potentially eligible participants do not always agree to take part in trials when approached, which makes recruitment more challenging, time-consuming, and costly. We conducted a Study Within a Trial (SWAT) to evaluate whether showing people brief video testimonies about taking part in research increased their interest in participating.
Methods: The host trial was a randomised controlled trial of a digital intervention for paranoia (STOP; Successful Treatment of Paranoia). People who were referred to the host trial and opted to receive an online version of the Participant Information Sheet were eligible for enrolment into the SWAT. Before accessing the online Participant Information Sheet, people were randomly allocated to watch either a brief online video with participant testimonies about taking part in physical health research (generic), mental health research (tailored to topic of host trial), or a no video control. We collected data on who expressed interest in taking part, and who went on to be randomised into the trial in each condition.
Results: 480 people took part in the SWAT (Generic Video=62, Tailored Video=188, No Video=230). People who were shown a video (of either type) were significantly more likely to express an interest in participating (OR 1.45, 95% CI: 1.02 to 2.09) compared to people who were not shown a video. However, the Generic Video was more effective than the Tailored Video in increasing the likelihood that someone would express interest in the trial (OR 2.52, 95% CI: 1.38 to 4.72).
Conclusions: Videos of participant testimonies led to enhanced interest in participating in the trial. Further research is needed to better understand the benefits or drawbacks associated with using generic vs. tailored patient testimony videos for different areas of health research.