Overcoming barriers to recruitment in health research: Concerns of potential participants need to be dealt with

Editor-Gornall is correct to raise the issue of Roy Meadow's and David Southall's omission from the reference list in the Child Protection Companion. 1 2 Southall, along with others, made contributions to the sections on fabricated and induced illness and imposed airway obstruction in chapter 6 of the Companion.Considerable notice was taken of Southall's views on these topics.The editorial group discussed how to manage the references throughout the book and, for these sections, chose to reference only the two documents on fabricated and induced illness produced by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (2002) and the Department of Health (2002).We think that these documents covered the topic and referenced all the essential authors on this topic.In retrospect, however, the lack of appropriate reference to both Southall and Meadow is unsatisfactory, and their important work should have been acknowledged more fully.Unfortunately, at the time of the preparation of the content of the Companion, the two professors were involved in the disciplinary process of the General Medical Council, which has still not been concluded in relation to Meadow and which reached an unfavourable outcome with regard to Southall.We debated their difficult situation.We were concerned for them as individuals, particularly as they have both worked tirelessly in promoting the welfare and safety of children.We were also concerned about the outcome of the GMC hearings.We recognised the potential impact that an adverse outcome would have on the retention and recruitment of paediatricians into child protection and also considered any implications for the Companion, which we were in the process of producing.It is possible that had we referenced the two professors more fully, this could have provided lawyers and journalists with ammunition to undermine the value of the Companion.We were always mindful of the objectives that we had set ourselves in producing the Companion.It was never intended to be a fully referenced textbook, and many seminal papers are therefore not referenced.