Background and Context:
Register4 is an online resource for Australian women and men to participate in cancer research – it does this by bringing together researchers with people who have expressed an interest in participating in approved cancer research projects.
An initiative of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Register4 was launched in 2010 and now has over 40,000 members (predominantly female) with a broad demographic representation. Lifestyle and family health history has been collected for nearly 25% of participants1. While originally focused on breast cancer research, the Register was opened up to research projects across all cancers in February, 2014.
Aim:
Register4 aims to help accelerate understanding towards the prevention and cure of cancer through reducing the substantial obstacles faced by cancer researchers in recruiting participants for their studies.
Strategy/Tactics:
As an entirely online resource, Register4 offers a cost effective and efficient recruitment model that allows access to tens of thousands of potential participants in a matter of minutes.
Programme/Policy Process:
To use the resource, researchers submit ethically-approved projects for consideration online. All applications are reviewed by the Register4 Access Committee for relevance/applicability to cancer and appropriateness for using the Register. Approved projects are emailed to Register4 members and they express interest online. If a member meets the project criteria and chooses to participate, they provide their formal consent to the researcher. After the project is implemented, a summary of the results is published on the Register4 website. The scope of projects varies - it may be completing a questionnaire to something more involved like providing a DNA sample.
Outcomes/What was learned:
Register4 has successfully recruited for 21 projects, to date. Researchers have advised estimated savings of $5,000 to $100,000 or up to one to two years’ recruitment time. For more information, visit www.register4.org.au.