Understanding systems and rhythms for minority recruitment in intervention research

Abstract

We describe one approach for recruitment and retention of minority individuals in intervention research using a systematic environmental perspective based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems (BES) model and the construct of temporality. An exemplar in a physical activity intervention study with low-income and primarily African American women is presented. The exemplar illustrates application of BES and temporality to enhance recruitment and retention in research focused on understanding and accommodating environmental influences. . Using this theory based approach resulted in successful recruitment and a high level of participant retention.

What are successful recruitment and retention strategies for underserved populations? Examining physical activity interventions in primary care and community settings

“…Intervention characteristics-Interventions most commonly were group-based classes; also included were promotion of walking [28][29][30][31][32][33][34], individual, homebased lifestyle physical activity (physical activity type not specified) [35,36], and mixed/multiple types of activity [33,[37][38][39]. The majority of interventions were either neighborhood-or community-based (n=11) or at community/cultural or recreation centers (n=9).…”

“…Providing financial or other incentives, transportation, or childcare were also commonly mentioned [29, 37-40, 42, 43, 45, 46, 48-50, 54-59, 63, 64]. Among the interpersonal strategies described for retention were for the study team to be persistent [54], have a positive, caring attitude towards participants [28,29,36,38,59], demonstrate cultural sensitivity and respect for participants' life situations [28, 29, 36, 45, 49, 50, 56-60, 65, 66], meet regularly with community advisors and study staff for problem solving [34], and be flexible or accommodating to location and timing of study visits as much as possible [28, 29, 34, 36-38, 40, 59, 60].…”

Venue-Based Recruitment of Women at Elevated Risk for HIV: An HIV Prevention Trials Network Study

“…[5][6][7] Women most at risk for HIV in the United States may be less likely to enroll in research, due in part to restrictive eligibility criteria, researcher bias that certain individuals may be more difficult to retain, cultural and language barriers, childcare responsibilities, a lack of trust on the part of the potential study participants, or structural barriers such as access to transportation. 4,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Specific individual-level behaviors, such as substance misuse and sex exchange, have been associated with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV. [15][16][17][18] As a result, many studies have focused on individual-level behaviors when defining study eligibility criteria.…”

Characterizing researchers by strategies used for retaining minority participants: Results of a national survey

“…A wide variety of retention strategies are reported in studies with predominantly minority participants, including use of financial incentives, flexible scheduling, community-based settings and support, transportation, and ease of scheduling and appointments [7, 8, 12, 18, 21–30]. Several systematic and other reviews report on optimal strategies for retaining minorities in research studies, and generally the results suggest that using multiple methods that combine incentives (monetary compensation, gift cards, and small tokens of appreciation) and flexibility with community-based activities (by providing extended hours for data collection - early morning, evening, weekend; shortened clinic visits; contacting participants via home and telephone visits, and postal mail) generally yields the highest retention rates among minority participants [5, 6, 24, 31–33].…”