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

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Translational Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

The purposes of this review are to (1) describe recruitment and retention strategies for physical activity interventions focusing on underserved populations and (2) identify successful strategies which show the most promise for “best practices” recommendations to guide future research. The method used was systematic review. Data on recruitment and retention strategies were abstracted and analyzed according to participant characteristics, types of strategies used, and effectiveness using an ecological framework. Thirty-eight studies were identified. Populations included African American (n = 25), Hispanic (n = 8), or Asian (n = 3) groups. Successful recruitment strategies consisted of partnering with respected community stakeholders and organizations, well-trained study staff ethnically, linguistically, and culturally matched to the population of interest, and use of multiple advertising channels. Successful retention strategies included efficient administrative tracking of participants, persistence, skillful teamwork, and demonstrating a positive, caring attitude towards participants. Promising recruitment and retention strategies correspond to all levels of ecological influence: individual, interpersonal, organizational, and societal.

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Acknowledgments

We extend our sincere thanks to Margaret Chretien for devoting her time and effort with the bibliographic searches, and Pamela White for her support with the search strategy as well. Special thanks to Adjuah VanKeken for her work in retrieving and indexing articles and to Vi Luong for her support in designing Fig. 1. We also appreciate the effort of Dawn Case and Bonnie Schwartzbauer for their technical editing and formatting assistance. Finally, thank you to all of the authors whose work is represented in Table 1 for their support and replies to verify information for this paper. Funding for this project was supported by the National Cancer Institute. (Identifying information on grant details and PI is omitted in this manuscript version per journal submission).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Rochester School of Medicine, Family Medicine Research Programs, 1381 South Avenue, Rochester, NY, 14620, USA

    Jennifer K Carroll MD, MPH

  2. School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Antronette K Yancey MD, MPH

  3. Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Bonnie Spring PhD & David C Mohr PhD

  4. Davis School of Medicine, University of California, Sacramento, CA, USA

    Colmar Figueroa-Moseley PhD, MPH

  5. University of Rochester Cancer Center, Rochester, NY, USA

    Karen M Mustian PhD, MPH, Lisa K Sprod PhD & Kevin Fiscella MD, MPH

  6. Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Jason Q Purnell PhD, MPH

  7. Department of Family Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA

    Kevin Fiscella MD, MPH

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  1. Jennifer K Carroll MD, MPH
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  9. Kevin Fiscella MD, MPH
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Correspondence to Jennifer K Carroll MD, MPH.

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Implications

Practice: Effectiveness of recruitment and retention should be more systematically and explicitly reported to inform sustainability, reach, and clinical relevance of programs.

Policy: Research funding for interventions with underserved groups should support the personnel time, training and development required for meaningful formative research and recruitment and retention strategies.

Research: Given the importance of having ethnically- and linguistically-matched study leadership and staff, there should be resources directed to expand the research workforce at all levels to be more representative of underserved groups.

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 1

Search terms used for review.

Physical activity, patient selection, clinical trial, research, motor activity, intervention, exercise, locomotion, program, rural/rural areas, patient education, feasibility, poverty/poverty areas, sports, pilot, African American, Asian American, recruitment, Hispanic, ethnic groups, retention, minority groups, educational status, walking, physical fitness, resistance training, prevention, ambulatory care, primary health care, bicycling, internal medicine, pedometer, accelerometer, community health centers, recreation, senior center, physicians/family, and socioeconomic factors

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Carroll, J.K., Yancey, A.K., Spring, B. et al. What are successful recruitment and retention strategies for underserved populations? Examining physical activity interventions in primary care and community settings. Behav. Med. Pract. Policy Res. 1, 234–251 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-011-0034-2

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