Reasons for and reservations about research participation in acutely injured adults.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons adult patients seeking emergency department care for minor injuries agree to participate in clinical research and to identify their reservations about participating in a research study.


DESIGN AND METHODS
This is a secondary analysis of data from a longitudinal cohort study of 275 adults who sought emergency department care for physical injury and were followed over 12 months. At the final interview, participants were asked open-ended short-answer questions about their perception of participating in the study. Free text responses were analyzed using conventional content analysis.


FINDINGS
The final sample of 214 participants was composed equally of males and females, predominantly Black (54%) and White (42%), with a mean age of 41 years. Six themes about reasons for participation emerged from free text responses: being asked, altruism, potential for personal benefit, financial gain, curiosity, and valuing or knowledge of research. Most did not report reservations. Those reservations identified included time constraints, confidentiality, and whether patients felt well suited to fulfill the study requirements.


CONCLUSIONS
Although injured patients are identified by the research community as vulnerable, they are willing to participate in research studies for diverse reasons, and their participation is commonly associated with positive experiences.


CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Understanding perceptions of participants' experiences of being in a research study after acute injury can guide researchers to improve future study protocols and recruitment strategies in order to optimize participants' experiences. Recruitment and retention into clinical research studies is essential to build nursing science to enhance the recovery of injured individuals.
['Irani|Elliane|E|', 'Richmond|Therese S|TS|']
D000208:Acute Disease D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000533:Altruism D035843:Biomedical Research D003219:Confidentiality D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital D004644:Emotions D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008137:Longitudinal Studies D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009042:Motivation D010358:Patient Participation D010465:Perception D035842:Research Subjects D014947:Wounds and Injuries
reservation research participation Injury research ethics