Reduce Recruitment Risk by Understanding Patient Decisions

Despite increasing investment in patient centricity, many clinical trials still struggle with patient recruitment and retention. A critical gap remains: patients do not evaluate treatments or trial participation purely through clinical attributes. Instead, they interpret these decisions through the lens of their everyday lives, asking: Will this help me feel normal again or further disrupt who I am and how I live?

This session introduces an evidence-based perspective grounded in sociolinguistic and thematic analysis of patient and caregiver narratives. Drawing on qualitative research across therapeutic areas, it demonstrates how concepts of normalcy, identity and disruption function as hidden drivers of decision making.

Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how patients frame trade-offs beyond efficacy and safety, and how these narratives directly influence willingness to participate in trials, as well as adopt, adhere or switch therapies. The session will also connect these insights with practical implications for clinical development and patient engagement strategies.

Attendees will walk away with:

• Enriched conceptual framework for interpreting patient decision making grounded in lived experience
• Common disconnects between trial design assumptions and how patients evaluate disruption to daily life
• Strategies to connect insights from patient narratives into protocol design and patient communication about emerging treatments

Register for this webinar to learn how patient decisions are shaped by normalcy, identity and disruption, and how these insights can support more patient-informed clinical development.

Speaker

Elena Rodgers, PhD, Associate Director, Patient Insights, Inspire

With over 19 years of qualitative and quantitative research experience, Elena Rodgers specializes in patient-centered insights within pharmaceutical and clinical research contexts. With a background in sociolinguistics, Elena brings a unique analytical lens to understanding how patients and caregivers construct the meaning of disease, treatment and care experiences. Elena’s research work focuses on uncovering the complex and nuanced ways patients frame their healthcare decisions not only through clinical attributes, but through positioning of one’s disease experience and personal identity in specific familial, societal and healthcare contexts. Elena’s additional expertise in leading complex longitudinal survey studies enables a more comprehensive understanding of patient behavior, combining the depth of narrative analysis with the rigor and scalability of quantitative evidence.

Elena’s extensive experience leading research projects has allowed her to effectively partner with pharmaceutical stakeholders across a range of therapeutic areas to help them translate patient and provider insights into actionable strategies informing clinical trial design, patient engagement, brand positioning and patient-centered communication.

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