Table 2.

Recruitment strategies to identify participants for screening stage of PODOSA

Source	*No. of referrals/responses (% of total)	Initial target (%) for screening participants by source	+% of total actually screened (estimated)	Judgement on success of strategy
1. NHS
1 (a) Direct referrals from health care professionals	55 (3)	25	1	Largely unsuccessful
1 (b) Written invitations via GPs to potential participants	265 (13)	25	11	Low (5.2%) response rate to letters was resource intensive
1 (c) Written invitation via diabetes register to diabetes patients (to target their relatives)	16		0	Unsuccessful
1 (d) Search of practice lists for IGT/IFG	4		0	Unsuccessful
Subtotal	336 (16)	50	12	Limited success
2. Community
2 (a) Via research team contacts, self referrals and 'snowball' effect	> 630 (30)		47	Successful particularly in Glasgow, at minimal cost
2 (b) Community organisations and recruiters, assisting with recruitment for small payment	618 (29)	(a), (b) and (c) 50	26	Initially unsuccessful when relying on goodwill, moderately successful when payment offered
2 (c) Research team recruitment via visits/talks	480 (23)		14	Moderately successful but labour intensive
Subtotal	1728 (82)	50	87	Successful
3. Media techniques
3 (a) Written articles in the press, radio interviews, leaflet and poster distribution, website and e-mail distribution lists	Exact number not known, but few	Mainly to raise awareness with the expectation of some self-referrals	0	Not successful in directly enrolling participants
3 (b) Ethnic marketing and consultancy company	25 (1)		1	Limited success achieved by fieldwork, not mass marketing
Subtotal	> 25 (2)	-	1	Unsuccessful
Totals	> 2089 (100)	100%	100% (1319)

* total number of potentially suitable participants referred to research team or responded to invitation letters for the screening stage

⁺ 1319 of 2089 referrals were eligible, available and willing to attend a screening visit to have blood glucose measured, percent of total screened is given