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Finding recruitment resources that educate potential participants about your research study’s unique goals and methods, and appeal to your target participant population is challenging. In addition, creating your own custom recruitment materials is expensive and time-consuming.

DigiKnowIt News is a customizable recruitment website software that allows you to create a recruitment website that is unique to your study, so you can recruit your full participant sample and maximize the number of participants you retain through a smooth, quick, cost-effective process.

How can a custom recruitment website help you recruit and retain more participants?

Using a recruitment website that is uniquely created for your individual research study can help your potential participants know exactly what to expect from participating in your specific study and help them feel more confident to participate.

Before children and adolescents can feel comfortable to participate in your research, they must be well informed about the ways they can benefit from participating in your unique study, what their rights are as a participant, and what they can expect to do as part of your study. Because every research study is different, the process of educating potential participants on their rights, benefits of participation, and the methods or procedures involved should look different for every study.

Customized recruitment websites allow researchers to educate their potential participants on important topics about their unique study that broad, generic recruitment materials often leave out.

For example, fear of unfamiliar or uncomfortable medical procedures is a common barrier to clinical trials recruitment. By incorporating content in your custom recruitment website that educates potential participants about the specific medical procedures involved in your clinical trial and addresses common fears associated with them, you can help reduce young people’s fears about participating in your study, so they may be more likely to participate.

By helping children and adolescents know what to expect from participating in your research study, a custom recruitment website can help you not only give young people the confidence to assent to participate but can also help you retain participants. When provided with realistic expectations for participation before the study begins, participants may be less likely to drop out of your study when met with challenges or discomfort.

In addition, customizing your recruitment website to appeal to the developmental interests and needs of the specific subgroup of youth you are recruiting can support your recruitment goals.

By customizing your recruitment website so that it is engaging and developmentally appropriate for your target participant population (e.g., children, adolescents), your potential participants may better understand the information you have provided them with, which may lead them to feel more confident to say “yes” to participating in your study.

How can you customize DigiKnowIt News to better support your recruitment goals?

DigiKnowIt News offers over 20 engaging learning modules that contain interactive activities and a variety of important information that young people should know before deciding to participate in a research study. You can choose which learning modules to include in your recruitment website from a menu of options to create a custom recruitment website that reflects the methods and procedures being used in your unique study.

DigiKnowIt News includes several informative learning modules and activities that you can choose to include in your custom website to teach young people about the specific medical procedures that are involved in your unique clinical trial. DigiKnowIt News includes optional modules and activities on venipuncture, MRI and ultrasound scans, various types of sedation and anesthesia, various types of organ testing, and behavioral treatments.

DigiKnowIt News is also designed to be adaptable for young people with different learning styles. DigiKnowIt News offers educational content in a few different modalities, including web-based modules called “investigations;” interactive, digital activities called “comic books;” and videotaped interviews with young people who have participated in clinical trials called “spotlights.” You can choose which investigations, comic books, and spotlights to include in your custom website so that content can be as short or long and as interactive or passive as you like.

In addition, many of DigiKnowIt News’ web-based modules and activities are available in two different versions, including one version designed to be developmentally appropriate for children and one to be developmentally appropriate for teens. These options are designed to help you create a custom recruitment website that suits the developmental needs and interests of your subgroup of potential participants.

DigiKnowIt News also includes options to create a unique subdomain for your recruitment website, display your study’s or organization’s logo on the website, and customize the design of your participants’ login page on your website. Customizing the design of your recruitment page also provides a friendly, welcoming experience for potential participants that may be wary or nervous about participating in research.

To view the library of optional content you can choose to include in your custom DigiKnowIt News website to meet all of your unique recruitment needs, visit https://digiknowit.com/library/.

One common barrier to recruiting children or adolescents to participate in a pediatric clinical trial or research study is that they often do not understand how they can directly benefit from participating in a study. DigiKnowIt News teaches young people how they can benefit from participating in your research, so they may be more likely to join your study.

When young people are informed about how participating in pediatric research can positively impact their health and well-being, they may feel more motivated to participate in your study. In fact, according to findings from qualitative studies, many children who have participated in clinical trials have reported that health and personal benefits for them were a main reason they chose to participate.^1,2 More specifically, children often choose to participate in clinical trials to learn more about their own diseases, access new medicines or treatment options, receive more monitoring and care from medical professionals, and/or receive a financial reward.

In addition, young people may also be motivated to participate in a study by altruistic reasons in that they believe that their participation can positively impact the health and well-being of others. For example, they may believe that their participation may help future patients receive better treatment for their disease. In addition, they may feel that they are able to “give back” to doctors who have treated them for their disease by helping doctors advance healthcare through participating in their research.¹

Children, adolescents, and their families often make the decision to participate in a study by carefully weighing the benefits and risks associated with participation. If young people are not fully informed about the ways they could benefit from being in a study, they may believe that the potential costs and risks of participating outweigh the potential benefits. Research has shown that this imbalance is associated with children and adolescents having more negative attitudes about research which can ultimately impact their decision to participate in studies.³ Educating young people about the potential benefits of participating in your research prevents families from keeping the perceived costs of participating in research at the forefront in their decision-making process.

So, how can you make sure potential participants are aware of how participating in your research can benefit them?

DigiKnowIt News explains and demonstrates the potential benefits of participating in research to children and adolescents, so researchers can help young people make more informed decisions about participating. The content of the website describes how participating in research could personally benefit participants and their health by providing them with opportunities to learn more about their disease, receive access to medical treatments that are otherwise not yet available to them, and more. In addition, DigiKnowIt News describes why pediatric research is important for the advancement of healthcare, so children can recognize how their participation in research could positively impact others. With an accurate and comprehensive look into their options, young people may feel more comfortable and ready to say “yes” to joining your study.

To learn more about how DigiKnowIt News can help you educate young people so they may be more motivated to participate in your research, visit https://digiknowit.com/ for more information.

1. Luchtenberg, M., Maeckelberghe, E., Locock, L., Powell, L., & Verhagen, A. A. (2015). Young people’s experiences of participation in clinical trials: reasons for taking part. The American Journal of Bioethics, 15(11), 3–13.
2. Martin-Kerry, J. M., Knapp, P., Atkin, K., Bower, P., Watt, I., Stones, C., Higgins, S., Sheridan, R., Preston, J., Taylor, D. H., Baines, P., & Young, B. (2019). Supporting children and young people when making decisions about joining clinical trials: Qualitative study to inform multimedia website development. BMJ Open, 9,
3. Barakat, L. P., Stevens, E., Li, Y., Reilly, A., Deatrick, J .A., Goldstein, N. E., & Schwartz, L. A. (2019). Evaluation of the pediatric research participation questionnaire for measuring attitudes toward cancer clinical trials among adolescents and young adults. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology, 8(4), 423–433.

As fellow researchers, we understand that recruiting participants for pediatric research is difficult. Researchers across the nation are struggling to recruit an adequate number of children or adolescents to participate in their research studies and clinical trials.

DigiKnowIt News is a multimedia, educational website that addresses the most common barriers to pediatric research participation to help you recruit more children and adolescents for your study.

So, why are children hesitant to participate in research studies, and what can you do about it?

Not only is the pool of potential participants smaller for pediatric studies than studies for adults, but many children and adolescents are reluctant to participate in research at all. Research has shown that fear of risks, lack of information, and misinformation about pediatric clinical trials are the main reasons children and parents are unmotivated or unwilling to participate in research.¹ When children and adolescents do not understand what research studies are, why they are important, or what they may be asked to do as a participant, they are likely to feel nervous to be involved.

If your study involves medical procedures, either invasive, such as venipuncture, or noninvasive, such as MRI or ultrasound scans, children may be afraid that the procedures will be painful or uncomfortable for them. Children or teenagers may also just have a fear of the unknown if your study involves them experiencing a medical or diagnostic procedure that is unfamiliar to them.

Several studies have found that young people’s fears of potential side effects of clinical trials treatment, prolonged hospitalization, and discomfort with experimentation are common reasons they view research participation negatively.² In these situations, education that explains what it means to participate in an actual trial and the value of doing so may help mitigate these fears.

In addition, children are often concerned that the time it would take them to participate in a study would take their time away from being with their friends or from participating in their hobbies.³ Children and teenagers in today’s world are busy with afterschool activities and especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, want to maximize time with their friends. Research has shown that quarantining and social distancing practices during the pandemic caused children and adolescents to reflect more on the irreplaceable nature of friendship and unsuspected benefits of in-school instruction for socialization.⁴ For this reason, young people may place higher value on the time they are able to spend with their peers post-pandemic. In addition, children have been spending more of their leisure time outdoors, have joined sports clubs more often, and have spent less time on screens in the past few years compared to before the pandemic.⁵

Children may have preexisting attitudes or beliefs about research that deter them from participating, such as beliefs that researchers are untrustworthy or deceptive. Educating young people on the roles of researchers and medical professionals leading a research study as well as the laws that researchers must follow to protect participants may help young people form more positive attitudes towards research. In addition, providing examples to potential participants of what it is like to interact with research staff, such as demonstrating how researchers can answer participants’ questions and how participants can speak with medical staff during medical procedures, may ease their anxiety by helping them to know what to expect before, during, and after participation.

Young people may also be unaware of the many ways that participating in research can benefit them and feel that participating is not worth their time or efforts. They may be more open to research participation after receiving training or having educational experiences that help them to understand the many benefits of participating in research.

What can you do to increase participation rates?

Our team of researchers and web developers created the DigiKnowIt News customizable website specifically to help researchers address these common recruitment barriers and meet their recruitment goals. DigiKnowIt News can be used to educate children and adolescents about what clinical trials are, how they can benefit from participation, and what their rights are as participants, so they feel more comfortable participating in research. Each researcher can choose what topics and educational materials to include in their custom website, so they can educate their potential participants on the specific medical procedures involved in their unique clinical trial. For example, researchers can choose to include interactive, informative modules on procedures such as venipuncture, MRI, organ testing, sedation, and anesthesia.

DigiKnowIt News was strategically designed to help you recruit more young people for your research, establish trust with participants, and involve youth in the decision-making process before and during study participation. To learn more about DigiKnowIt News and how it can help you recruit young people for your research, visit https://digiknowit.com/overview/ for more information.

1. Tromp, K., Zwaan, C. M., & van de Vathorst, S. (2016). Motivations of children and their parents to participate in drug research: a systematic review. European Journal of Pediatrics, 175(5), 599–612.
2. Forcina, V., Vakeesan, B., Paulo, C., Mitchell, L., Bell, J. A., Tam, S., Wang, K., Gupta, A. A., &Lewin, J. (2018). Perceptions and attitudes toward clinical trials in adolescent and young adults with cancer: a systematic review. Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics, 9, 87–94.
3. Greenberg, R. G., Gamel, B., Bloom, D. Bradley, J., Jafri, H. S., Hinton, D., Nambiar, S., Wheeler, C., Tiernan, R., Smith, P. B., Roberts, J., & Benjamin, D. K. (2018). Parents’ perceived obstacles to pediatric clinical trial participation: findings from the clinical trials transformation initiative. Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, 9, 33–39.
4. Larivière-Bastien, D., Aubuchon, O., Blondin, A., Dupont, D., Libenstein, J., Séguin, F., Tremblay, A., Zarglayoun, H., Herba, C. M., & Beauchamp, M. H. (2022). Children’s perspectives on friendships and socialization during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative approach. Child: care, health and development, 48(6), 1017–1030. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12998
5. de Bruijn, A. G. M., Te Wierike, S. C. M., & Mombarg, R. (2023). Trends in and relations between children’s health-related behaviors pre-, mid- and post-Covid. European journal of public health, 33(2), 196–201. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckad007

Use of incomplete or developmentally inappropriate materials in the assenting process might result in selection bias, insufficient sample size, under- or over-representation of certain groups of youth, costly delays in recruitment, or even high rates of attrition in studies over time. However, many researchers struggle to find materials to use in their assenting process that are comprehensive and developmentally appropriate for their target participant population.

DigiKnowIt News is an educational website that you can seamlessly integrate into your assenting process to recruit more children and adolescents for your research and minimize attrition.

Why should you consider changing your current assenting process?

The importance of informed assent in pediatric research cannot be understated. Not only is the informed assent process vital for respecting participants’ autonomy and complying with good clinical practice guidelines, but it is also a key opportunity for researchers to achieve their recruitment and retention goals.

Children and adolescents may feel too nervous or unprepared to participate in research if they are not adequately informed about their rights as participants and what they may be asked to do as part of your research study or clinical trial. In addition, participants who are not well-informed about the purpose and methods being used in a study may have unrealistic expectations about their participation, which can cause them to lose motivation to participate over time, especially when met with any unexpected challenges or discomfort.

Therefore, if you are experiencing low participation rates or high attrition rates, it may be because your participants are not adequately informed about your study’s goals and methods. Modifying your informed assenting process to effectively inform potential participants may help them feel more comfortable and motivated to participate fully in your research, so you can meet your goals.

Why is your current informed assent process not working?

Pediatric researchers face a unique challenge to educating their potential participants. Properly informing participants should look different for pediatric research studies than studies for adults, but popular informed assent practices do not reflect that. Children are usually not involved in the process of choosing the design or methods of delivering information about clinical research to children, so many potential participants end up receiving information that is neither engaging, comprehensible, nor appealing to them.

Assent forms and in-person meetings with health care providers are the most common ways children and adolescents are informed about clinical trials and their rights before participating. However, health care providers have reported that they find it difficult to maintain young people’s attention and provide balanced information to families during informed consent meetings.¹ In addition, research has shown that assent forms and participant information sheets are often long and difficult for young people to understand.²

Therefore, just because you have provided information to your potential participants about their rights, and the goals and methods being used in your study, does not necessarily mean children were able to understand or retain the information well enough for them to remember it, to decide if they think your study will benefit them, and to decide whether they want to participate in it.

How can you elevate your assenting process for better results?

Research has shown that delivering information about study participation to children and adolescents in a multimedia, digital format may improve potential participants’ knowledge about clinical trials. These methods also may be more understandable for young people than delivering the same information in paper format.³

By delivering information in a way that is entertaining and appeals to multiple different learning styles, you may be able to help potential participants better understand and retain information about study participation, so they feel comfortable beginning and continuing participation in your research.

Creating an engaging and developmentally-appropriate informed assent process for potential participants does not have to be expensive or time consuming. DigiKnowIt News is an engaging, developmentally-appropriate, multimedia website containing the information that children and adolescents need to understand what clinical trials are, what might be involved if they participate, and what their rights are as a participant. When you purchase access to DigiKnowIt News for your study, you get access to a web application that cost over $2 million to develop and evaluate.

DigiKnowIt News was designed to help researchers upgrade their informed assent processes to improve their participant recruitment and retention rates without each researcher having to spend all of the time, money, or resources that were needed to create these interactive, flexible, and multimedia resources.

If you are looking for research-based, cost-effective ways to educate potential participants for better participation rates in your research, DigiKnowIt News can help.

To learn more about how DigiKnowIt News can help you, visit https://digiknowit.com/.

1. Barakat, L. P., Schwartz, L. A., Reilly, A., Deatrick, J. A., & Balis, F. (2014). Perceived barriers and benefits of Phase III clinical trials participation for adolescents and young adults with cancer (AYA): A qualitative study of AYA decision making experiences. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology, 3(1), 3–11.
2. Ménoni, V., Lucas, N., Leforestier, J. F., Doz, F., Chatellier, G., Jacqz-Aigain, E., Giraud, C., Tréluyer, J . M., & Chappuy, H. (2011). Readability of the written study information in pediatric research in France. PLoS One, 6(4), e18484.
3. Tait, A. R., Voepel-Lewis, T., & Levine, R. (2015). Using digital multimedia to improve parents’ and children’s understanding of clinical trials. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 100(6), 589–593.

DigiKnowIt News is one of the first interactive, educational websites designed with the specific goal of helping researchers recruit more participants for pediatric clinical trials and research studies. DigiKnowIt News works by educating children and adolescents on various aspects of pediatric research, so they may be more likely and comfortable to participate in research. The website targets the most common barriers to pediatric clinical trials to decrease youth skepticism and fear about participating in research, and increase youth knowledge, confidence, and positive attitudes about participating in a clinical trial or research study.

Why use an educational website to inform potential child and adolescent participants?

Research has shown that young people are better able to make decisions about participating in research when their options are presented in an age-appropriate way and when the method of communication considers children’s emotional and cognitive abilties.¹

In addition, interactive, entertaining, and relevant resources may improve children’s comprehension of concepts related to clinical trials.²

What is DigiKnowIt News?

DigiKnowIt News is a unique resource for informing potential participants about pediatric studies because it is strategically designed to be engaging and developmentally appropriate for youth. Unlike most forms of educating youth about their rights and the measures and procedures being used in a specific study, DigiKnowIt News was developed with input from both youth and researchers to ensure that the website’s content not only includes all of the information that young people need to confidently make a decision to participate in research, but also engages youth, so they can easily understand and retain information.

DigiKnowIt News appeals to several different learning styles so that young people can stay engaged with the website’s content whether they learn best by interacting with information passively or actively. DigiKnowIt News utilizes three different types of interactive, educational features for children including: comic books, investigations, and spotlight videos. Comic books are digital, interactive activities that allow young people to choose an avatar and follow adventures through a clinical trial. Investigations are web-based modules for learning about clinical trials and medical procedures through completing entertaining, interactive activities. Spotlights are videotaped interviews with young people to learn about their real-life experiences being a participant in a clinical trial.

Incorporating interactive components in web-based educational resources for use by potential participants in pediatric studies may be more effective at helping young people engage with and retain information about pediatric research than typical informed assent methods, such as only providing information in paper form or research staff having informed assent meetings with participants. Studies have found that children who used the DigiKnowIt News website were satisfied with its interactive features. In fact, 78% of children who used the website said they enjoyed using it and 88% said they learned new information from it. In addition, children who used DigiKnowIt News rated it as very usable and reported that it had an easy-to-use format.³

To view a demo of DigiKnowIt News’ engaging investigations, comic books, and spotlights, visit https://digiknowit.com/free-version/.

1. Barakat, L. P., Patterson, C. A., Mondestin, V., Chavez, V., Austin, T., Robinson, M. R., Li, Y., Smith-Whitley, K., & Cohen, R. (2013). Initial development of a questionnaire evaluating perceived benefits and barriers to pediatric clinical trials participation. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 34(2), 218–226.
2. Sheridan, R., Martin-Kerry, J., Watt, I., Higgins, S., Stones, S. R., Taylor, D. H., & Knapp, P. (2019). User testing digital, multimedia information to inform children, adolescents and their parents about healthcare trials. Journal of Child Health Care, 23(3), 468–482.
3. Parker, A. E., Scull, T. M., & Morrison, A. M. (2021). Educating youth about pediatric clinical trials using an interactive, multimedia educational website. Journal of Child Health Care, 26(1), 139-153.