• Anitra Karthic, Zandantsetseg Orgil, Nguyen K Tram, Julie Rice-Weimer, Jack Stevens, and Vanessa A Olbrecht.
• Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
• Paediatr Anaesth. 2023 Dec 1; 33 (12): 109110981091-1098.

IntroductionA major challenge in conducting clinical trials is recruitment. Trial under-enrollment leads to underpowered studies. Behavioral economics offers strategies that may enhance trial recruitment. This study assessed the impact of behavioral economic strategies versus a standard biological approach to recruit children into a randomized clinical trial assessing a biofeedback-based virtual reality intervention for postoperative pain management. We hypothesized the behavioral economics-informed approach would increase enrollment into the future trial, intention to adhere to therapy, acceptability of the intervention, and perceived efficacy while decreasing perception of treatment burden and risk.MethodsThis single-center, prospective, randomized trial recruited patients 12-18 years old undergoing surgery requiring postoperative admission and narcotic administration. Patient-parent dyads were randomized to watch a behavioral economics-informed (n = 64) or standard biological (n = 66) recruitment video about a study designed to assess impact of a virtual reality pain management intervention.ResultsThere was no difference in rates of intention to enroll in the study between groups (behavioral economics: 75%, control: 79%, p = 0.744) or in median response scores to questions regarding intention to adhere to therapy (4.0 [3.0, 4.0] vs. 4.0 [3.0, 4.0], p=0.084), acceptability of therapy (4.0 [3.0, 4.0] vs. 4.0 [3.0, 4.0], p = 0.376), perceptions of treatment burden (3.0 [3.0, 4.0] vs. 4.0 [3.0, 4.0], p=0.251), and efficacy (3.0 [3.0, 4.0] vs. 3.0 [3.0, 4.0], p = 0.914). Patients in the behavioral economics group were less likely to perceive risk associated with virtual reality versus the control group (behavioral economics: 2.0 [1.0, 2.0], control: 2.0 [2.0, 3.0], p = 0.023).DiscussionA behavioral economics-informed video did not increase patients' intentions to enroll into a clinical trial assessing the impact of virtual reality intervention for postoperative pain management.ConclusionEither approach would be sufficient for patient recruitment for this type of clinical trial since the overall intention to enroll rate was 77%.© 2023 The Authors. Pediatric Anesthesia published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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