Analysis of participant retention issues in clinical studies

Participant retention is one of the significant issues faced by clinical studies. Approximately 15% to 40% of enrolled participants drop out before studies are complete. This high dropout rate not only reduces the statistical power of a study and increases the cost of the study but also delays the development of new treatments. This thesis evaluates two strategies to improve participant retention in practice: monetary incentives to the participants and effort to reduce the inconvenience participants experience during the study. Despite the wide adoption of these strategies, there is a lack of economic analysis to understand their relative effectiveness of these strategies in improving retention, and how such strategies to improve retention can propagate and affect the study's ability to achieve its objectives. To address this gap, three research studies are conducted to provide insights into the design of retention strategies in clinical studies. The first research presents a theoretical analysis that evaluates the efficacy of different incentive schemes for providing monetary payment to the participants. This analysis reveals the performance gap of the currently adopted incentive schemes as compared to an optimal scheme and enables a decision maker to identify an optimal incentive scheme, monetary payment, and effort level for improving retention. The second research focuses on the contracts to compensate providers for their efforts in clinical studies. It investigates the impact of providers' compensation contracts on participant retention and compares the relative performances of different compensation contracts adopted in practice. It provides guidelines on when the optimal contract offers significant benefits. The third research further discusses the implications of these strategies on the termination of clinical studies. The results suggest that the adoption of different strategies to improve participant retention can also reduce the likelihood of terminating a clinical study.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Business Administration

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Song, Xueze

Contributors dc:contributor

• Mehrotra, Mili
• Rajapakshe, Tharanga
• Mukherjee, Ujjal
• Wang, Yixin

• Healthcare Operations
• Clinical Study
• Participant Retention
• Compensation Contract
• Incentive Scheme

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Xueze Song

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/125784

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F125784