{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T20:04:43Z","timestamp":1772222683613,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]],"date-time":"2025-09-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1756857600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007602","name":"Programme Grants for Applied Research","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["(PGfAR) RP-PG-0217-20006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["(PGfAR) RP-PG-0217-20006"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007602","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Low participant recruitment and retention rates are a significant barrier to successful Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs). A Study Within A Trial (SWAT) is an effective way to explore which trial delivery methods may be useful for improving participant recruitment and retention rates. Infographics are a useful information delivery tool that may improve participants\u2019 understanding of the trial and thus improve recruitment or retention rates. This SWAT was embedded within the Behavioural Activation in Social Isolation (BASIL+) RCT. BASIL+ was delivered during the Covid-19 pandemic and evaluated the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a brief psychological intervention (Behavioural Activation) to mitigate depression and loneliness in older adults with multiple long-term health conditions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Twelve research sites were randomly allocated 1:1 to either the SWAT intervention group (participant information included a one-page infographic) or the SWAT control group (participant information did not include a one-page infographic). The primary outcome was the recruitment rate to the BASIL+ trial. The secondary outcomes were the number of expressions of interest in the trial and the follow-up retention rate at 3 months post-randomisation. Results were compared for each group using a mixed-effect logistic regression model with trial site as a random effect. The cost-effectiveness of the SWAT intervention was also evaluated.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Despite a small additional cost (\u00a30.13) per participant, there was no evidence that participant recruitment, expressions of interest or retention was significantly affected by the inclusion of the one-page infographic.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Our results suggest that the inclusion of an infographic alongside the participant information sheet may not be the best way to improve recruitment and retention rates for RCTs. However, infographics continue to be effective tools for information delivery in healthcare settings, and further research is needed to explore their use in RCTs.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0320821","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]],"date-time":"2025-09-03T17:27:19Z","timestamp":1756920439000},"page":"e0320821","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Investigating the use of a one-page infographic to improve recruitment and retention to the BASIL+ randomised controlled trial: A Study Within a Trial (SWAT)"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3495-6468","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Lucy","family":"Atha","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Eloise","family":"Ryde","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9158-2055","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Lauren","family":"Burke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Samantha","family":"Brady","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kalpita","family":"Baird","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Leanne","family":"Shearsmith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Charlie","family":"Peck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Andrew","family":"Henry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Caroline","family":"Fairhurst","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Han-I","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Della","family":"Bailey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rebecca","family":"Woodhouse","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dean","family":"McMillan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Simon","family":"Gilbody","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Ekers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4606-4590","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Elizabeth","family":"Littlewood","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0320821.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2016-015276","article-title":"Recruitment and retention of participants in randomised controlled trials: a review of trials funded and published by the United Kingdom Health Technology Assessment Programme","volume":"7","author":"SJ Walters","year":"2017","journal-title":"BMJ Open"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0320821.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"224","DOI":"10.1186\/s13643-020-01471-x","article-title":"Non-randomised evaluations of strategies to increase participant retention in randomised controlled trials: a systematic review","volume":"9","author":"A Elfeky","year":"2020","journal-title":"Syst Rev"},{"key":"pone.0320821.ref003","article-title":"Producing better evidence on how to improve randomised controlled trials","volume":"351","author":"J Adamson","year":"2015","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0320821.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"147","DOI":"10.1186\/s13063-018-2544-4","article-title":"Identifying trial recruitment uncertainties using a James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership - the PRioRiTy (Prioritising Recruitment in Randomised Trials) study","volume":"19","author":"P Healy","year":"2018","journal-title":"Trials"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0320821.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"593","DOI":"10.1186\/s13063-019-3687-7","article-title":"What are the most important unanswered research questions in trial retention? A James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership: the PRioRiTy II (Prioritising Retention in Randomised Trials) study","volume":"20","author":"D Brunsdon","year":"2019","journal-title":"Trials"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0320821.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"144","DOI":"10.1186\/s13063-017-1797-7","article-title":"An optimised patient information sheet did not significantly increase recruitment or retention in a falls prevention study: an embedded randomised recruitment trial","volume":"18","author":"S Cockayne","year":"2017","journal-title":"Trials"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0320821.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1002\/14651858.MR000013.pub5","article-title":"Strategies to improve recruitment to randomised controlled trials","author":"S Treweek","year":"2010","journal-title":"Cochrane Database Syst Rev"},{"key":"pone.0320821.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100936","DOI":"10.1016\/j.conctc.2022.100936","article-title":"Comparing the effects of a patient-designed-and-informed participant information leaflet in comparison with a standard, researcher-designed information leaflet on recruitment, retention and understanding: A study-within-a-trial","volume":"28","author":"CP Dwyer","year":"2022","journal-title":"Contemp Clin Trials Commun"},{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0320821.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"681","DOI":"10.1186\/s13063-019-3779-4","article-title":"Investigating modifications to participant information materials to improve recruitment into a large randomized trial","volume":"20","author":"Group HPS2-THRIVE Collaborative","year":"2019","journal-title":"Trials"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0320821.ref010","first-page":"257","article-title":"Maximizing the visual translation of medical information: A narrative review of the role of infographics in clinical pharmacy practice, education, and research","volume":"4","author":"B Barlow","year":"2021","journal-title":"JACC: Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0320821.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pec.2005.05.004","article-title":"The role of pictures in improving health communication: a review of research on attention, comprehension, recall, and adherence","volume":"61","author":"PS Houts","year":"2006","journal-title":"Patient Educ Couns"},{"key":"pone.0320821.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"86","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclinepi.2017.12.003","article-title":"No difference in knowledge obtained from infographic or plain language summary of a Cochrane systematic review: three randomized controlled trials","volume":"97","author":"I Buljan","year":"2018","journal-title":"J Clin Epidemiol"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0320821.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0263856","article-title":"Behavioural Activation for Social IsoLation (BASIL+) trial (Behavioural activation to mitigate depression and loneliness among older people with long-term conditions): Protocol for a fully-powered pragmatic randomised controlled trial","volume":"17","author":"L Burke","year":"2022","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0320821.ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1016\/S2666-7568(23)00238-6","article-title":"Behavioural activation to mitigate the psychological impacts of COVID-19 restrictions on older people in England and Wales (BASIL+): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial","volume":"5","author":"S Gilbody","year":"2024","journal-title":"Lancet Healthy Longev"},{"issue":"12","key":"pone.0320821.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1211","DOI":"10.1002\/gps.2680","article-title":"The effectiveness of behavioural therapy for the treatment of depression in older adults: a meta-analysis","volume":"26","author":"Z Samad","year":"2011","journal-title":"Int J Geriatr Psychiatry"},{"key":"pone.0320821.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1136\/ebmental-2022-300530","article-title":"Can we mitigate the psychological impacts of social isolation using behavioural activation? Long-term results of the UK BASIL urgent public health COVID-19 pilot randomised controlled trial and living systematic review","volume":"25","author":"E Littlewood","year":"2022","journal-title":"Evid Based Ment Health"},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0320821.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"509","DOI":"10.3928\/0048-5713-20020901-06","article-title":"The PHQ-9: A new depression diagnostic and severity measure","volume":"32","author":"K Kroenke","year":"2002","journal-title":"Psychiat Ann"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0320821.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1177\/014662168500900307","article-title":"The development of a Rasch-type loneliness scale","volume":"9","author":"J De Jong Gierveld","year":"1985","journal-title":"Appl Psych Meas"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0320821.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"503","DOI":"10.1093\/geront\/46.4.503","article-title":"Performance of an abbreviated version of the Lubben Social Network Scale among three European community-dwelling older adult populations","volume":"46","author":"J Lubben","year":"2006","journal-title":"Gerontologist"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0320821.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1092","DOI":"10.1001\/archinte.166.10.1092","article-title":"A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: the GAD-7","volume":"166","author":"RL Spitzer","year":"2006","journal-title":"Arch Intern Med"},{"key":"pone.0320821.ref021","unstructured":"Ware JE, Kosinski M, Keller SD. SF-12: how to score the SF-12 physical and mental health summary scales. 1995."},{"key":"pone.0320821.ref022","volume-title":"Coronavirus and shielding of clinically extremely vulnerable people in England 9 July to 16 July 2020","author":"T Gibbs","year":"2020"},{"key":"pone.0320821.ref023","unstructured":"Group UPISDP. UK Public Involvement Standards: Better public involvement for better health and social care. 2019 [Available from: https:\/\/sites.google.com\/nihr.ac.uk\/pi-standards\/home"},{"issue":"8","key":"pone.0320821.ref024","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"877","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclinepi.2015.03.014","article-title":"Professionally designed information materials and telephone reminders improved consent response rates: evidence from an RCT nested within a cohort study","volume":"68","author":"A Boyd","year":"2015","journal-title":"J Clin Epidemiol"}],"container-title":["PLOS One"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0320821","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]],"date-time":"2025-09-03T17:27:25Z","timestamp":1756920445000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0320821"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Anna","family":"Bernasconi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"editor","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]]},"references-count":24,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0320821","relation":{"has-preprint":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.1101\/2025.02.27.25322998","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,3]]}}}