Earlier this month, our team joined industry leaders in Barcelona for SCOPE Europe 2025, an inspiring few days exploring how innovation can make clinical research more efficient, inclusive, and human. As always, we were especially drawn to conversations about patient and family experience. After all, when children and caregivers feel supported, everyone benefits, from sites to sponsors to science itself.
The SCOPE Europe Summit brought together leaders across clinical operations, data science, and patient engagement to explore how innovation can make clinical research more efficient and inclusive.
For those of us focused on paediatric and family-centred research, the Patient Engagement and Recruitment stream was particularly relevant. Across the sessions, sponsors, CROs, and vendors shared how they are re-thinking how participants and their caregivers are engaged, supported, and retained throughout their trial journey.
It was a reminder of why this focus matters: reducing burden and enabling human connection remain at the heart of successful trials.
A leading European pharmaceutical company shared findings from research conducted across several of their studies, revealing that while participants report high satisfaction with their site teams, they often find participation burdensome. The top reasons for withdrawal included procedures (25.9%) and time commitment (22%).
As one speaker summarised,
“It’s not the science that loses participants, it’s the logistics.”
Although this research focused on adult populations, the same challenges are often even more pronounced in paediatric studies.
Through our own work at Little Journey, we consistently hear from families and site teams about the emotional and logistical barriers that can make participation difficult. When children or caregivers feel anxious, unprepared, or overwhelmed, adherence and retention quickly suffer.
At the same time, it’s vital to recognise that site staff are also under pressure. One panellist brought this to life by sharing that
“some site teams have to log into 60 different portals in a single day.”
This digital overload adds friction for sites and can impact both operational efficiency and participant experience.
At Little Journey, we’re conscious of that burden too. Our platform is designed as a turnkey solution for sites, requiring no additional logins or workflow disruption. This gives site teams more time to do what they do best: connecting with and supporting patients.
This insight was echoed in the Cuttsy + Cuttsy and ISPEP collaboration on the Participation Equation Report, which demonstrated a direct link between trial experience scores and trial completion rates.
Connection to the site team emerged as one of the strongest predictors of whether participants completed their trial.
Another key finding from the report showed a clear link between the perceived usefulness and timing of support materials and trial completion rates.
Participants who received materials they could use continuously had higher experience scores (8.8 vs 8.2) and completion rates (91% vs 65%).
Conversely, participants who withdrew from the trial were much more likely to report receiving materials that were not relevant or provided at the wrong time (52% and 48% respectively).
When materials are available at the right time and in the right format, participants stay engaged. When they’re not, dropout rates rise.
Participants’ top requests were for support to manage tests and assessments (46%) and to prepare for visits (41%) – exactly the areas we focus on at Little Journey.
Our evidence-based procedure preparation content has been shown to reduce procedural anxiety, helping children and caregivers feel calmer and more confident before and during visits.
Our newly launched My Next Visit feature goes a step further, simplifying complex trial schedules and helping families plan ahead with clear, easy-to-follow information. By providing this content digitally, families have it to hand whenever they need it throughout the trial.
These insights reinforce what we see every day through our work with sponsors and sites. Families want to understand what’s ahead, feel confident in their role, and know they are appreciated throughout the process.
When those needs are met, participation becomes a shared endeavour, not a burden.
At Little Journey, our mission is to remove uncertainty, reduce anxiety, and make every trial a more positive experience for families. By supporting participants between visits and delivering the right information at the right time, we help build confidence, adherence, and trust — the foundations of improved retention and high-quality data.
Ultimately, the message from SCOPE Europe was clear: improving operational efficiency and trial outcomes begins with improving the family experience.
When participants and caregivers feel supported as people, not just as subjects, they are more likely to stay engaged, complete the trial, and share positive feedback.
That is the kind of innovation that will define the next generation of paediatric trials.