Given the underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in health research (Heiat et al. in Arch Int Med 162(15):1-17, 2002; Kelly et al. in J Nat Med Assoc 97:777-783, 2005; United States Department of Health and Human Services. Monitoring adherence to the NIH policy on the inclusion of women and minorities as subjects in clinical research. http://orwh.od.nih.gov/research/inclusion/reports.asp , 2013), this study evaluated promising strategies to effectively recruit Latinos into genetic research on autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The study included 97 children, aged 5-17 years, with ASD; 82.5 % of the participants were identified as Latino/Hispanic. Traditional and culture-specific recruitment and retention strategies were compared between the Latino and non-Latino groups. Culture-specific, parent-centered approaches were found to be successful in engaging and retaining Latino participants for research involving genetic testing.

Our findings reflect a critical gap in the literature. Greater attention is needed to subgroup differences including race, ethnicity, and culture within the population of people with disabilities.

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