Research Recruitment and Data Capture for a COVID-19 Research Study: Strategies and Considerations for the Future

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, highlighted the need for rapid, large-scale research initiatives to better understand the genomic, clinical, and epidemiological factors underlying disease susceptibility and diverse health outcomes. Our study leveraged federally-funded COVID-19 research programs which sequenced SARS-CoV-2 (VirusSeq) and human (HostSeq) genomes to generate an integrated dataset linking viral and host genomic data with clinical and epidemiological information. This study focused on overcoming challenges in participant recruitment and sample collection during the pandemic, particularly within the context of stringent public health measures. We aimed to ensure the inclusion of individuals from rural and remote regions of BC, who are often underrepresented in national research programs. To facilitate this, we utilized the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control’s (BC CDC) Consent to Contact Registry (CCRD) to recruit individuals who had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and had agreed to be contacted for research purposes. Recruitment was conducted through phone calls and emails, and participants provided either blood or saliva samples for genomic analysis. Participant comments shared during recruitment were reviewed descriptively to identify common motivations and concerns. Participants could mail back kits allowing those from remote communities to participate. Despite challenges, such as skepticism about remote data collection, we successfully enrolled 793 participants. We used a descriptive mixed methods approach that combined quantitative recruitment, participation and geographic metrics with a narrative summary of participant comments, integrating these data to explain participation patterns, motivations, concerns and barriers in the context of remote, registry-based recruitment. Our experiences underscore the importance of agile and inclusive research approaches during public health emergencies. Key strategies, such as leveraging existing public health registries, virtual consent processes and remote sample collection, can facilitate the recruitment of geographically diverse populations and should be considered in future large-scale genomic research initiatives.