Table 4 Quotes on recruiters’ perception of recruitment from interviews with recruiters

1

“It has gone quite tedious recruiting, because you are saying the same things over and over again. Mentally and physically exhausted by the end of the week and recover on weekend” (Recruiter C)

2

“The study is so beneficial, incentives involved, not much effort from participant” (Recruiter B)

3

“Organisational support that we have in the study, where we have the hospitals to recruit. The managers of the hospitals, they already know that we are going there to recruit, makes our life easier. Going to clinics and having one on one with each participant makes it easier. The organisation is making it easier, it would be impossible to recruit more than a thousand women (as we did) without having the help of so many hospitals and being part of an organisation” (Recruiter A)

4

“Rapport with women is the most important. I was able to gain rapport with women by explaining the study, being very clear and transparent, not hiding anything about the study helped me gain women’s rapport” (Recruiter B)

5

“I can really talk about childbearing and childrearing and I can practically say that I did not have this information when I had my child and I know that as a first-time mum if I had this information it would have really helped me and that convinces a lot of people. Being a mum does have a positive influence” (Recruiter C)

6

“At two recruitment sites you have a high number of people from non-English speaking background, they readily related to me and especially when I started speaking their language with the women, I gained their trust” (Recruiter B)

7

“Some women feel like they do not have the time to commit to the study and to complete the survey, they do not need the extra support” (Recruiter B)

8

“I have had to convince women who have had children already, I did some convincing and said the information might serve as a reminder” (Recruiter B)

9

“After explaining the programme to women, some women still do not really understand it, so you sit down next to them and explain a little longer” (Recruiter D)

10

“The word ‘study’ scared some people, using the word ‘programme’ and explaining to them that the ‘programme’ has been going for quite a long time, we are just trying to make it more cost effective, they then trusted it. They did not want to feel like guinea pigs in a ‘study’. Using the word ‘programme’ is how we overcame a barrier” (Recruiter D)

11

“I recruited across all eight sites. At two non-metropolitan locations women are not so open to participating because they do not understand the significance of research and how it could benefit them. General lack of understanding of research. Women with higher education levels were more open to research. The two rural hospitals were not aware of significance of research and benefits” (Recruiter B)

12

“None of the women declined to participate in the study due to randomisation” (Recruiter B)

13

“My interest in the study got them interested, it showed on my face. I was able to gain rapport with women by explaining the study, being very clear and transparent, not hiding anything about the study helped me gain women’s rapport” (Recruiter B)

14

“Script was a guide, but did not use exact words since I considered it unnatural. I benefited more from watching other recruiters initially” (Recruiters C and D)