Screening and recruitment – Are there sufficient participants according to
the inclusion criteria who are willing and able to enrol in the proposed
study?
cancer
CANCER
Seven hundred nine people were assessed for eligibility (596 from palliative care
clinics or day-therapy, 113 from cancer MDTs). From these, 628 of 709 people
were ineligible according to the study exclusion criteria giving a screen
failure rate of 89%. After being approached to enrol 47% of people agreed to
participate in the study. A reason for decline was not required but many people
volunteered their thoughts. Two declined on the grounds of randomisation – and a
wish to avoid the placebo arm. One stated that their health insurance would not
permit participation in a trial. In all other cases people declined due to the
extra burden of visits. None declined due to the chosen outcome measures.
Treatment allocation is reported in CONSORT diagram for pilot and feasibility trials.Baseline demographics of randomised participants. Mean (SD) or median
(IQR [range]) unless specified otherwise. No significant baseline
differences existed between groups.