Improving Recruitment and Retention in Mental Health Clinical Trials: The role of Digital Tools

Mental health conditions contribute significantly to the global disease burden, yet clinical trials for new treatments face persistent challenges in participant recruitment and retention. Key challenges include limited awareness of trial opportunities, suboptimal trial design, lack of trust, and overburdened healthcare providers. Digital tools, including participant finding solutions, remote monitoring and virtual visits, offer solutions, but face obstacles such as insufficient real-world evidence on impact, low adoption, and inadequate support for non-English speakers. To improve outcomes, funders are urged to strengthen the evidence base around the impact of digital tools, enhance accessibility, and involve people with lived experience in trial design. By supporting these measures, funders can catalyze more efficient, inclusive, and impactful mental health research that swiftly delivers new treatments to diverse populations worldwide.

This report was commissioned by the Wellcome Trust and co-authored by Boston Consulting Group and MQ Mental Health Research.