Evaluating the Effectiveness of Motivational Interview to Reduce Disparities in Trial Enrollment

Motivational interviewing (MI) is a collaborative, person-centered strategy to facilitate change. The communication style asks open-ended questions to clarify what is meaningful and important, affirms the thought process, and uses reflective listening to explore the positives and negatives of decision-making.  MI is used in healthcare and clinical research settings, and success is demonstrated among diverse populations to promote behavior change in intervention trials. Yet, little research explores the effect of MI training for clinical teams, particularly coordinators to increase patient recruitment and retention. The National Initiative for Minority Involvement in Neurological Clinical Trials (NIMICT) (NIH-NINDS/NIMHD U24 MD006961) is evaluating the effectiveness of MI training as a strategy for coordinators to improve recruitment and retention, and reduce disparities in participation among females and racial-ethnic minorities.

NIMICT: MI Training is a multi-center, single blinded, randomized clinical trial. Coordinators are randomized to receive MI training or Standard Operating Procedures training. The MI arm includes communication techniques to establish rapport with potential participants, including:  1) exploring goals and values of the individual regarding participation, 2) eliciting and addressing barriers or concerns recruiting minorities and women, and 3) summarizing the positive and negative aspects of participation.

The primary outcome is the effectiveness of the MI Training to increase participant enrollment and retention rates. We will examine the proportion of females and minorities approached enrolled and successful enrollment.  Successful use of MI for trial recruitment has the potential to significantly improve rates of trial participation and reduce disparities that impact generalizability of research.