Culturally tailored e-health/m-health research using smartphones may be of interest to African American women who are interested in risk reduction and chronic disease self-management. Barriers such as smartphone data plans and privacy will need to be addressed.

There was a low representation of AA in the studies in this review. Opportunities exist to engage AA in e-Health/m-Health research, but researchers must go beyond the traditional one-size-fits-all approach to determine what mixture of incentives and recruitment/retention strategies would work best for a particular health condition, population group, or community.

Findings underscore the importance of screening for substance use, even among youth enrolled in elementary/middle school. In addition, school prevention programs should begin in elementary school (third grade) and target alcohol use.

Most African American (AA) men own a smartphone, which positions them to be targeted for a variety of programs, services, and health interventions using mobile devices (mHealth). The goal of this study was to assess AA men's use of technology and the barriers and motivators to participating in mHealth research. A self-administered survey was completed by 311 men. Multinomial logistic regression examined associations between three age groups (18-29 years, 30-50 years, and 51+ years), technology access, and motivators and barriers to participating in mHealth research. Sixty-five percent of men owned a smartphone and a laptop. Men aged 18 to 29 years were more likely willing to use a health app and smartwatch/wristband monitor than older men ( p < .01). Men aged 18 to 29 years were also more likely than older men to be motivated to participate for a free cell phone/upgraded data plan and contribution to the greater good ( p < .05). Older men were more likely than younger ones to be motivated to become more educated about the topic ( p < .05). Younger men were more likely than older ones to report lack of interest in the topic as a barrier to participating ( p < .01), while older men were more likely than younger ones to cite lack of research targeted to minority communities as a barrier ( p < .05). This study suggests that culturally tailored mHealth research using smartphones may be of interest to AA men interested in risk reduction and chronic disease self-management. Opportunities also exist to educate AA men about the topic at hand and why minority men are being targeted for the programs and interventions.

AAW's high ownership of smartphones, use of mHealth apps and tools, and willingness to participate in mHealth research has the potential to curb the obesity epidemic by participating in mHealth weight management programs and research.

HL may affect BMI among AA women, where they access dieting information and the types of information needed to manage their weight.

A tailored, multipronged strategy that combines traditional recruitment methods with texting, e-mail, and social media may be effective in recruiting AA adults into mHealth research.

Background Recruitment and retention in longitudinal studies can be challenging because the numbers of participants may not adequately reflect the targeted population. Objectives The aim of the study was to present a replicable pathway model of recruitment via retrospective chart review and describe outcomes of the recruitment methods used in the model on enrollment, scheduling, and attrition. Methods This retrospective chart review included recruitment data from participants of a parent grant (n = 99) that met chart review inclusion criteria (n = 47) for a follow-up study measuring microbiome data of preterm infants at toddler and preschool age. Results Over a 3-year recruitment period, 25 of the 47 participants eligible for recruitment were enrolled in the follow-up study. Initial contact was more likely to be performed via mail and e-mail for first time points and via phone for subsequent contact and second time points. For scheduling, phone contact was the method utilized most frequently for both groups, with online scheduling second when introduced in the preschool group. Two participants were lost to follow-up, resulting in an attrition rate of 8%. Discussion This recruitment pathway model offers researchers multiple recruitment methods for initial contact and scheduling that may be useful in contacting more participants to positively affect enrollment and reduce attrition rates for longitudinal cohorts. The innovation of recruitment methods via Facebook for initial contact and online scheduling are new methods with promise and multiple benefits for the research staff and participants.