Dyadic recruitment in complementary therapy studies: experience from a clinical trial of caregiver-delivered reflexology

摘要

Purpose: As home-based care continues to be a growing trend in health care, involvement of friend and family caregivers in the management of illness becomes essential. However, before nurses can prepare caregivers to engage in various types of care, an evidence base needs to be established via randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Research suggests that recruiting cancer patients and their friend or family caregivers into RCTs presents challenges. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the barriers to recruitment of patient caregiver dyads into a RCT of caregiver-delivered reflexology and to recommend strategies to address such barriers.