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Evaluation ViewAttendees 8

Panel Discussions

Dissemination & Implementation Science

Recruitment and Retention in Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Trials: Challenges and Strategies for Overcoming Them

Panel Discussion 29 - Recruitment and Retention in Hybrid Effectiveness-implementation Trials: Challenges and Strategies for Overcoming Them

Sunday, November 23, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CST
Location: Empire D, Level 2
Earn 1.5 Credit
Keywords: Community-Based, Implementation, Clinical Trial
Recommended Readings: Curran, G. M., Bauer, M., Mittman, B., Pyne, J. M., & Stetler, C. (2012). Effectiveness-implementation hybrid designs: combining elements of clinical effectiveness and implementation research to enhance public health impact. Medical care, 50(3), 217-226.,   Curran, G. M., Landes, S. J., McBain, S. A., Pyne, J. M., Smith, J. D., Fernandez, M. E., ... & Mittman, B. S. (2022). Reflections on 10 years of effectiveness-implementation hybrid studies. Frontiers in Health Services, 2, 1053496.,   Pellecchia, M., Mandell, D. S., Nuske, H. J., Azad, G., Benjamin Wolk, C., Maddox, B. B., ... & Beidas, R. S. (2018). Community–academic partnerships in implementation research. Journal of community psychology, 46(7), 941-952.,   ,  
The impact of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in mental health care is limited by low uptake of EBPs. Oft-cited estimates suggest it takes 17 years or more for only a fraction of EBPs to be regularly delivered as part of routine care. One driver of this time lag (of many) is the traditional research pipeline, where treatments initially are tested within tightly controlled efficacy trials, which then progress to effectiveness trials to test generalizability of intervention impact. Once a treatment is established as an “EBP”, efforts shift to studying how to disseminate and implement it into routine clinical settings. Originally proposed by Curran et al., hybrid effectiveness-implementation trials aim to expedite this pipeline by dually testing effectiveness and implementation outcomes of interest within a single trial design.

Increasingly popular with high potential to accelerate access to EBPs, hybrid trials also raise a host of pragmatic challenges related to ethical recruitment and retention. Panelists will begin by sharing background about the context of their hybrid trials and how initial plans for recruitment and retention were established and, in many cases, then waylaid. Panelists then will present key strategies for how these challenges were addressed, including seeking advice from community partners, altering recruitment strategies and study eligibility criteria, adapting incentive structures, and bolstering retention strategies while maintaining scientific rigor. Throughout, panelists will emphasize core strategies employed to foster the community partnerships required to successfully execute aims of a hybrid trial and adhere to ethical and regulatory responsibilities.

Panelists were selected based on their experience leading hybrid trials focused on EBP implementation across diverse settings, including outpatient community mental health, urban schools, early intervention services, and integrated primary care.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Describe key ethical and practical challenges that arise in the conduct of hybrid effectiveness implementation trials.
  2. Identify proactive strategies to overcome common recruitment and retention challenges unique to hybrid trials.
  3. State the benefit of established community partnerships to ensure the success of hybrid trial protocols.