Acceptability and Feasibility of an Educational Intervention to Improve Researcher-Participant Interactions in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Clinical Trial: Research Team Feedback on the BRIEF Intervention.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Interactions with families are essential to successful recruitment conversations that promote informed decision-making about clinical research enrollment. However, there is little evidence about how to implement communication-oriented recruitment training among pediatric clinical research teams. Our objective was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of Better Research Interactions for Every Family (BRIEF), a multipart educational intervention to improve relationship-based conversations about clinical trial enrollment with families in the neonatal setting. STUDY DESIGN: We piloted BRIEF in partnership with a neonatal clinical research team. Research team members completed surveys following the BRIEF intervention's online module and the BRIEF group training session. They completed self-assessments after consent discussions before and after the BRIEF intervention, in which they rated their achievement of recruitment skills taught in BRIEF. Research team members also completed a final study interview to provide feedback on the intervention components, training content, and use of skills in practice. RESULTS: All nine research team members completed all components of BRIEF. Survey responses showed moderate to low satisfaction with previous recruitment training before BRIEF and high satisfaction with the BRIEF training. Self-assessments showed significant increases in reported partnership with bedside nursing (p = 0.02) and confirmation of family names (p = 0.05) after BRIEF training. Interviews provided further evidence of overall satisfaction with the BRIEF training, its content, and the skills learned, as well as opportunities for improvement, particularly in supporting challenging conversations. CONCLUSION: This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of the BRIEF intervention, as well as opportunities for improvement in future training. KEY POINTS: · It was feasible to implement the BRIEF researcher training in a single-site NICU trial.. · BRIEF training was acceptable to research team members.. · BRIEF training shows potential to improve relationship-based research communication..