Patient Recruitment Strategies: Fixing The Friction In Trial Enrollment

Many patients don’t refuse clinical trials because they’re unwilling — they decline because the process often feels complicated, confusing, and disconnected from their personal motivations. Participation decisions are shaped by a network of small but powerful barriers: uncertainty, fear, information overload, and simple inertia.

This session reframes the challenge of patient enrollment through behavioral science, specifically the principles of choice architecture and patient activation. Speakers will explore how techniques such as framing, simplifying options, setting supportive defaults, and leveraging social proof can make clinical trials easier to understand and more inviting to join. When paired with patient activation methods that build confidence, clarity, and a sense of control, these tools create a practical framework for designing trial experiences that work in harmony with how people actually make decisions.

Grounded in real-world data and behavioral program outcomes, the discussion will offer a clear, actionable path for shifting patient responses from hesitation to engagement. The goal isn’t to persuade more forcefully — it’s to design more thoughtfully.