When planning your recruitment strategy and identifying your target groups, it is important to consider how you are going to reach a diverse range of people (e.g., age, culture, ethnicity, disability) that are representative of the community you are hoping to impact. Find out more about the make-up of people living with arthritis in the UK in our State of MSK health report. 

• Involving people with arthritis in developing and reviewing the information you will use to attract, recruit and explain your project to participants will be key to finding and keeping people onboard. The young people’s research advisory group Your Rheum can be involved to help guide and shape your work, when relating to research concerning 11-24 year olds.  
• Information about your research shared with participants should be clear and jargon free. Read our tips about communicating in lay language here.
• This report on the MAPLE project, looking to create accessible participant information, provides some interesting findings and advice.  

The degree of involvement, time commitment, number of visits, data storage and future usage plans are important to ensure participants feel secure in taking part, and have confidence and understanding of the project.

How to reach people to take part 

• Be Part of Research is a place you can advertise your project to potential participants.
• Snowball sampling – recruit among your immediate networks and then ask them to share with their networks.
• Ask your local NHS services and health professionals. It may be possible to target specific services/GP practices which work with communities you are interested in engaging with. 
• Advertise on social media.
• Explore support and engagement with community organisations and patient groups.

How can we support recruitment of participants to your research?  

We can advertise opportunities for people with arthritis to participate in our funded research on our website, please contact us at researchliaison@versusarthritis.org for this support. 

You can also read about how us and other charities support recruitment to clinical research through the Association of Medical Research Charities. 

Case Studies