Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 May;32(3):353-62.
doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2011.01.007. Epub 2011 Jan 27.

Recruitment and retention strategies in longitudinal clinical studies with low-income populations

Lisa M Nicholson  1 , Patricia M Schwirian, Elizabeth G Klein, Theresa Skybo, Lisa Murray-Johnson, Ihuoma Eneli, Bethany Boettner, Gina M French, Judith A Groner
Affiliations

Recruitment and retention strategies in longitudinal clinical studies with low-income populations

Lisa M Nicholson et al. Contemp Clin Trials. 2011 May.

Abstract

Background: Conducting longitudinal research studies with low-income and/or minority participants present a unique set of challenges and opportunities.

Purpose: To outline the specific strategies employed to successfully recruit and retain participants in a longitudinal study of nutritional anticipatory guidance during early childhood, conducted with a low-income, ethnically diverse, urban population of mothers.

Methods: We describe recruitment and retention efforts made by the research team for the 'MOMS' Study (Making Our Mealtimes Special). The 'multilayered' approach for recruitment and retention included commitment of research leadership, piloting procedures, frequent team reporting, emphasis on participant convenience, incentives, frequent contact with participants, expanded budget, clinical staff buy-in, a dedicated phone line, and the use of research project branding and logos.

Results: Barriers to enrollment were not encountered in this project, despite recruiting from a low-income population with a large proportion of African-American families. Process evaluation with clinic staff demonstrated the perception of the MOMS staff was very positive. Participant retention rate was 75% and 64% at 6 months and 12 months post-recruitment, respectively. We attribute retention success largely to a coordinated effort between the research team and the infrastructure support at the clinical sites, as well as project branding and a dedicated phone line.

Conclusions: Successful participant recruitment and retention approaches need to be specific and consistent with clinical staff buy in throughout the project.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: None of the authors had any conflicts of interest; there was no corporate sponsorship of this research.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Sample representation and retention: CONSORT Chart for cluster randomized trials.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Office of Extramural Research NIH. 2001. http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/women_min/guidelines_amended_10_200....
    1. Blumenthal DS, Sung J, Coates R, Williams J, Liff J. Recruitment and retention of subjects for a longitudinal cancer prevention study in an inner-city black community. Health Serv Res. 1995;30(1 Pt 2):197. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bonner GJ, Miles TP. Participation of African Americans in clinical research. Neuroepidemiology. 1997;16(6):281. - PubMed
    1. Gorelick PB, Harris Y, Burnett B, Bonecutter FJ. The recruitment triangle: reasons why African Americans enroll, refuse to enroll, or voluntarily withdraw from a clinical trial. An interim report from the African-American Antiplatelet Stroke Prevention Study (AAASPS) J Nat Med Assoc. 1998;90(3):141. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gilliss CL, Lee KA, Gutierrez Y, et al. Recruitment and retention of healthy minority women into community-based longitudinal research. J Womens Health Gend Based Med. 2001;10(1):77. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms