Objectives: The aim of the study was to explore women's motivations for
participating in a clinical trial and to evaluate how financial compensation
impacts women's explanations for participation. Design, setting and
participants: Semistructured interviews were conducted face to face or by
telephone with 25 of 220 women who participated in a pragmatic randomised
trial for app-administered self-care acupressure for dysmenorrhoea (AKUD). Of
these 25 women, 10 had entered AKUD knowing they would receive a financial
compensation of €30. A purposive sampling strategy was used. Results: Women
had a long history of seeking help and were unsatisfied with the options
available, namely painkillers and oral contraceptives. While interviewees were
open to painkillers, they were uneasy about taking them on a monthly basis.
The AKUD trial offered the possibility to find an alternative solution. A
second reason for participation was the desire to add a new treatment to
routine medical care, for which the interviewees considered randomised trials
a prerequisite. The financial incentive was a subsidiary motivation in the
interviewees' narratives. Conclusions: Our results contribute to the ongoing
discussion of the impact of financial compensation on research participants'
assessment of risk. The interviewed women considered all research participants
able to make their own choices regarding trial participation, even in the face
of financial compensation or payment of study participants. Furthermore, the
importance of clinical trials providing new treatments that could change
medical practice might be an overlooked reason for trial participation and
could be used in future recruitment strategies
