(P198) COMBATING INSTITUTIONAL AND LOGISTICAL CHALLENGES TO CLINICIAN RECRUITMENT FOR SEXUAL HEALTH RESEARCH

Background:
Understanding clinician’s unique processes and approaches to sexual health (i.e., discussion, education, clinical management) is important when developing interventions to improve sexual health uptake in primary care settings. However, there are increasing competing priorities in healthcare workplaces that are making it a challenge to recruit clinicians for research.

Methods:
We intended to conduct one-time brief focus groups with primary care physicians and advanced practice providers to gain insight into: (1) factors impacting sexual health discussions and (2) clinician STI management and education practices. Institutional barriers to effective recruitment (e.g., internal approval processes, communication limitations, lack of clinician access) limited successful recruitment of the proposed sample size (N= 16).

Results:
The insufficient recruitment of participants highlighted important barriers to accessing clinicians as research participants. Clinician access is an important first step to successful recruitment and was limited in this research specifically related to: (1) complex internal research approval protocols, (2) limited email communication related to clinician email overload, and (3) important clinician privacy concerns. To mitigate these issues, we devised a scaffolded strategy to improve future clinician recruitment including: (1) build relationships early, (2) validate the relationships often, (3) effectively communicate with institutions the importance of their participation in the proposed research and (4) obtain clinician contact preferences.

Conclusion:
Utilizing clinicians as research participants is essential to understanding the clinical processes surrounding the discussion of, education about, and clinical management of sexual health concerns in the primary care setting. Primary care clinicians experience burnout at rates much higher than other colleagues which may contribute to reduced participation in clinician-based research. It is imperative that we identify and reduce institutional barriers to clinicians’ participation in research as their perspective, experience, and knowledge are necessary when addressing ongoing clinical-based concerns. Access to clinicians requires a multi-pronged approach addressing institutional and individual preferences.