The Significance of Strategic Community Engagement in Recruiting African American Youth & Families for Clinical Research

Abstract

We present baseline data and describe the utility of a community engaged, culturally relevant approach to recruiting African American youth and families for phase I of The AAKOMA Project. The AAKOMA Project is a two phase treatment development study to improve mental health service use among depressed African American youth. We completed capacity building activities using a community engaged framework and Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methods. Replicating the (Alvarez et al. in West J Nurs Res 28:541–560, 2006) model of systematic community out-reach enhanced our ability to effectively recruit partners and evaluate outreach efforts as demonstrated by our Recruitment Success Factor (RSF—i.e. ‘an adjusted ratio of eligible participant yield to contacts made’). Using the chi-square goodness-of-fit statistic; we compared the RSFs of the various modes of participant study entry to determine which was most effective. Our target enrollment was 56 persons. We recruited 130 and enrolled 57. Our baseline data is drawn from a gender balanced and socioeconomically diverse sample who participated in youth focus groups and individual interviews and adult focus groups. We identified 3 study participant referral modes (self-referral, provider referral and participant-to-participant referral) with multiple sources per mode and an overall RSF of 0.41. Study findings support the effectiveness of assiduous and systematic community interaction, reflective review of recruitment efforts and the importance of disseminating information on strategic recruitment processes for engaging diverse populations in clinical research.

Associations between Culturally Relevant Recruitment Strategies and Participant Interest, Enrollment and Generalizability in a Weight-loss Intervention for African American Families

“…7,11,12 Previous research has primarily focused on examining associations between recruitment strategies and enrollment rates in health promotion programs [13][14][15] and understanding the use of faith-based and community partnerships in recruitment. 7,[11][12][13] Results suggest that recruitment medium may be as-…”

“…7,[10][11][12] Examples of community partnerships used previously include the use of community advisory boards, community liaisons, and collaboration with local organizations such as churches and clinics. 6,11,13,14 In addition to providing a better understanding of important sociocultural values, community partnerships increase participant sociated with enrollment rates and recruitment yield, with communitybased sources and partnerships being most effective. 13 Although past research has examined the success of different types of recruitment strategies, direct comparisons between sociocultural and non-sociocultural recruitment mediums have not been examined.…”

“…6,11,13,14 In addition to providing a better understanding of important sociocultural values, community partnerships increase participant sociated with enrollment rates and recruitment yield, with communitybased sources and partnerships being most effective. 13 Although past research has examined the success of different types of recruitment strategies, direct comparisons between sociocultural and non-sociocultural recruitment mediums have not been examined. Previous studies have not examined outcomes across the recruitment process such as scheduling a baseline visit (eg, screening) and enrollment into a run-in phase prior to participation.…”

Exposure to community violence and social maladjustment among urban African American youth

“….g., Allison et al, 1999; Cutrona, et al, 2000; Gaylord-Harden, Cunningham, & Zelencik, 2011; Cooley-Quille & Lorion, 1999), there is still a possibility that self-selection in our sample may result in it not being fully representative. In addition to the noted difficulty in engaging low-income African American populations (Breland-Noble, Bell, & Poole, 2012), it is possible that this response rate resulted from the requirement that participants return both assent and parental consent forms, low attendance of the students, or even suspicions of clinical research being conducted in African American communities (Allison et al, 1999). Thus, future research in these communities should strive to use community-based participatory research (CBPR) strategies in order to increase recruitment and reduce bias.…”

“…Previous research has shown that high-risk, low-income minority samples, such as this one, are difficult to engage in research due to the levels of disorganization and stress in their lives, resulting in barriers such as time constraints due to work schedules, lack of childcare, or general life crises (Allison et al, 1999; Breland-Noble, Bell, Burriss, & Poole, 2012). …”