Abstracts from NENA
2025 – Saskatoon, SK
May 30–June 1, 2025
Emergency department patients’ willingness to
participate in low-risk health research during
the COVID-19 pandemic
Stephanie Crump, Emma Gaylord, Sara Gjyli, Alicia
Kassee, and Erin O’Connor
Background: Conducting health research during a health emergency, such as a pandemic, is important to manage public health
responses and recovery (Lurie et al., 2013; Canadian Institute
of Health Research [CIHR], 2024). Prior to the COVID-19
pandemic, a survey by Gobat et al. (2019) showed strong public
support for health research during a hypothetical pandemic and
discussed patient willingness to participate in pandemic-relevant
health research. Conducting research in the emergency department (ED) is challenging due to various barriers, including time
constraints for patients (Irani et al., 2015) and patient concerns
about trust, risk (Limkakeng, 2014), and confidentiality (Irani
et al., 2015) in regard to research participation.
Study Aims: A cross-sectional study design and convenience,
criterion sampling was used. Adult patients (≥18 years) registered in two urban tertiary EDs at University Health Network
(UHN), who met the study inclusion criteria, were invited to
complete a structured, anonymous, electronic survey. Surveys
were collected from August to December 2020. Research Ethics
Board approval was obtained by UHN.
The survey included a) demographic questions; b) binary questions (yes/no) on whether the patient would consent to donate
biospecimens (blood specimens, throat swab, nasopharyngeal
(NP) swab, and urine sample) for research; and c) five-point
Likert scale questions on patient motivation(s) to donate biospecimens based on four key domains (altruism, trust, personal
benefit, and social). These domains were formulated based on the
Theory of Consumption Values (Sheth et al., 1991) and literature
review. Biospecimens were not collected as part of this study.
Results: Two hundred and twenty-five participant surveys
were collected. There was a near equal number of male (51%)
to female (48%) participants. Most adult age groups were
well-represented: 19% were 18–29 years old, 30% were 30–49
years old, 35% were 40–59 years, and 25% were 60–79 years
old. The sample had higher levels of education as 13% were high
school graduates, 27% completed undergraduate education, and
30% completed graduate or post-graduate education. Those
who reported their gender as other (1%), were 80 years of age
or older (2%), and had no schooling (1%) or a kindergarten to
grade 12 education (7%), were underrepresented.
The majority of study participants described themselves as generally healthy (60%). Of those who reported health concern(s;
40%), cancer was most reported (22%), followed by cardiac disease (17%), liver or kidney disease (13%), neurological issues
(10%), and respiratory disease (8%). Most (62%) survey participants reported no prior participation in health research.
Willingness to provide biospecimens for research
Most (85%) ED patients were willing to provide at least one
biospecimen for research purposes and the majority (55%)
agreed to provide all four samples. Of those agreeing to donate
biospecimens, the majority were willing to provide a urine sample (78%), throat swab (77%), blood sample (75%), or NP swab
(65%). Those who previously participated in health research
were more likely to agree to donate a urine sample (p = .002),
NP swab (p = .005), small blood sample (p = .04), and throat
swab (p = .04). 14 Vol. 48, No. 3, Fall 2025 · Canadian Journal of Emergency Nursing Participants largely (71%) reported that their decision to donate
biospecimens for research would not be influenced by the presence of a global pandemic. The remaining 29% reported that
their decision to take part would be different if there was not a
present pandemic. Sixty percent reported that the decision to
take part would be different if more risk was involved (e.g., taking a medication, having an x-ray, or skin biopsy) while 40%
reported their decision would not be different.
Motivation to donate biospecimens for research
Two domains, altruism and trust, were shown to be internally
consistent and reliable via Cronbach’s alpha (<0.7). Sum scores
were created and then tested against demographic variables.
Demographic characteristics of sex, age, education, and health
status (generally healthy; health concern[s]) were not statistically significant. Those who reported previous participation in
health research had a higher total altruism score (p = .004) and
trust score (p = .005) than those who had not previously participated in health research.
Implications and Future Directions: This study’s results support engaging ED patients in health research recruitment during
a pandemic. The results show that the ED may be a suitable location to seek adult participant consent for the collection of lowrisk biospecimens for research purposes during a pandemic.
Since the majority (60%) of participants reported a willingness to accept more risk (such as taking a medication, having
an x-ray, or skin biopsy), further research is required to explore
ED patient participation in research involving more risk during
a pandemic.
As results show participants have a high willingness to partake
in low-risk health research, further research is needed to explore
ED patient participant recruitment facilitators and barriers
within a pandemic context. Demographic variables not collected
in this study, such as ethnicity or socioeconomic status, could
also be explored further in relation to ED patient participation
in low-risk health research during a pandemic.
Conclusion: This study found that most adult ED patients were
willing to donate low-risk biospecimens during the COVID-19
pandemic. It also found that altruism and trust were key domains
that influenced ED patients’ willingness to donate biospecimens
for low-risk health research during the COVID-19 pandemic.