The RE-MIND study team have been awarded over £70,000 to investigate online methods to recruit participants from hard to reach and under-served communities in clinical research.

Clinical trials often struggle with recruitment, and this issue can be worse when recruiting vulnerable populations, such as participants with mental health issues. Added to this, the lack of diversity among trial participants means that research is often not always relevant to the wider population that healthcare providers serve.

Greater inclusivity would result in more robust and useful findings, informing healthcare delivery and reducing health inequalities for difficult to access and under-served communities. Online methods of recruitment (such as the internet and social media) may prove more appropriate and convenient than standard face-to-face methods.

The aim of this study is to identify and provide evidence and guidance for use of online methods in the recruitment of participants into mental health clinical trials, with a particular focus on whether online methods improve inclusivity.

REcruitment in Mental health trials: broadening the ‘net’, opportunities for INclusivity through online methoDs (RE-MIND) is expected to run between January 2022 and December 2022. Co-investigators: Kirsty Sprange (NCTU) and Dr Charlotte Hall (IMH - NIHR Mindtech).

Co-applicants: Prof Ed Juszczak (NCTU), Dr Jen Martin (NIHR Mindtech), Prof Elizabeth Murray (UCL Priment CTU), Dr Heidi Gardner (University of Aberdeen), Dr Andy Willis (Centre for BME Health Leicester)

Funding is awarded through the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Trials Unit (CTU) Support Funding Scheme.