JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Family physicians in primary care often face overloaded schedules, making it challenging for them to participate in research. Contributing factors include mismatched priorities, staff shortages, administrative burdens, disruptions to clinical routines, and additional documentation. While many clinics express interest in research participation, engagement remains difficult due to complex procedures, limited office space for recruitment and consent, and inadequate staffing. Simplifying research participation for physicians and clinics is therefore critical.

Objective:

This study aimed to examine the digital behaviors of patients from primary care clinics (i.e., how patients interact with email invitations and web-based surveys) when invited to participate in an online survey as part of the PaRIS cohort.

Methods:

We conducted an observational cohort analysis of all patients invited to the PaRIS study. A development committee, including a patient partner, co-created an invitation for patients to participate in the PaRIS study, which focuses on patient-reported outcome and experience measures. Between June 2023 and January 2024, these invitations were sent via email using Cyberimpact by their respective clinics. We analyzed email performance, open rates, and click-through statistics.

Results:

Twelve primary care clinics participated in the PaRIS-Quebec survey, sending email invitations to 14,871 eligible patients. Of these, 14,757 eligible patients (97.2%) successfully received the invitation. A total of 445 emails were undelivered due to technical issues (n=42) or incorrect email addresses (n=403). The average open rate for the initial invitation was 76%, with clinic-specific rates ranging from 57% to 88%. For reminder emails, the average open rate dropped to 70% (47%- 86%). Most patients (85%) opened the invitation or reminder on a computer, while 13% used a mobile phone and 2% used a tablet. The overall conversion rate was 10%. Click-through rates of the embedded content were as follows: 15.2% for the French PaRIS study questionnaire, 8.1% for the Patient partner video clip, 2.1% for the English PaRIS study questionnaire and 1.3% and 0.6% for the PREMs and PROMs video clips respectively. Reminders were effective in increasing questionnaire completion rates. The study also identified challenges in balancing evidence-based recruitment practices with the unique needs and characteristics of each clinic. Sending invitations to ineligible patients and constraints on the availability of clinic staff were the major issues.

Conclusions:

This study highlights the effectiveness of email recruitment campaigns in engaging primary care patients and their digital behaviours. Research teams should consider email as a viable recruitment method, focusing on well-designed and thoughtfully crafted invitations. While these large-scale email campaigns impose minimal burdens on clinics, research teams must offer support to clinics during recruitment and data collection. Clinical Trial: none