A review of strategies used to retain participants in clinical research during an infectious disease outbreak: The PREVAIL I Ebola vaccine trial experience

Successful strategies were developed and employed in the PREVAIL I vaccine trial that resulted in extraordinarily high participant retention and follow-up rates during an infectious disease outbreak. This review illustrates that employing host country social mobilization concepts within a modified clinical research management framework is highly correlated to elevated rates of retention and minimal loss to follow-up. These strategies also contributed to increased data quality and enhanced adherence to protocol requirements. The increased ability to respond to social issues such as stigma, job retention and relationship conflicts was an additional and significant benefit of this follow-up methodology.