Recruitment Strategies and Lessons Learned from the Children’s Healthy Living Program Prevalence Survey

Abstract

The US Affiliated Pacific region's childhood obesity prevalence has reached epidemic proportions. To guide program and policy development, a multi-site study was initiated, in collaboration with partners from across the region, to gather comprehensive information on the regional childhood obesity prevalence. The environmental and cultural diversity of the region presented challenges to recruiting for and implementing a shared community-based, public health research program. This paper presents the strategies used to recruit families with young children (n = 5775 for children 2 – 8 years old) for obesity-related measurement across eleven jurisdictions in the US Affiliated Pacific Region. Data were generated by site teams that provided summaries of their recruitment strategies and lessons learned. Conducting this large multi-site prevalence study required considerable coordination, time and flexibility. In every location, local staff knowledgeable of the community was hired to lead recruitment, and participant compensation reflected jurisdictional appropriateness (e.g., gift cards, vouchers, or cash). Although recruitment approaches were site-specific, they were predominantly school-based or a combination of school- and community-based. Lessons learned included the importance of organization buy-in; communication, and advance planning; local travel and site peculiarities; and flexibility. Future monitoring of childhood obesity prevalence in the region should consider ways to integrate measurement activities into existing organizational infrastructures for sustainability and cost-effectiveness, while meeting programmatic (e.g. study) goals.

Effect of the Children’s Healthy Living Program on Young Child Overweight, Obesity, and Acanthosis Nigricans in the US-Affiliated Pacific Region

“…Effect of the Children's Healthy Living Program in US-Affiliated Pacific Region Guided by the Analysis Grid for Elements Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework, 14 the intervention team designed the multilevel intervention by merging community input and evidencebased strategies identified in the literature. 7,13,15 The CHL sought to identify and build on what was currently working in communities by engaging community partners and members in ways sensitive to their culture and to put the health and well-being of young children at the forefront of community decisions and actions in a way that could be sustained through the land grant college framework and local coalitions. 16 The CHL trial used a unique template for implementation and had exceptional accuracy of anthropometric measurements.…”

Quality assurance of data collection in the multi-site community randomized trial and prevalence survey of the children’s healthy living program

“…The greatest strength of the CHL QA program was the standardized protocol used throughout the multi-site study that limited confounding bias. The high level of collaboration and efficiency with jurisdiction sites where local staff were hired and trained resulted in an organized, novel and functional recruitment process as outlined in Fialkowski et al [ 26 ]. The QA site visit process was an important component to ensure data integrity within the multi-site study in this underserved, underreported and underrepresented region.…”

Diet and Acanthosis Nigricans over a Two-Year Period in Children of the Pacific Region

“…The communities in each jurisdiction selected for inclusion in the CHL met the following criteria: sufficient size (>1000 individuals) based on the 2010 jurisdiction censuses, sufficient representation of individuals of indigenous descent, sufficient representation of children, and reasonable accessibility to the CHL team. A complete description of how these communities were selected is available [ 35 , 36 , 37 ]. Twenty-seven communities, 4–6 per jurisdiction, were included, with 9 randomized to the CHL intervention, 9 to the control condition, and 9 included as temporal communities.…”