Gorman Jessica R, Roberts Samantha C, Dominick Sally A, Malcarne Vanessa L, Dietz Andrew C, Su H Irene
Moores Cancer Center, University of California , San Diego, La Jolla, California.
Moores Cancer Center, University of California , San Diego, La Jolla, California. ; Department of Psychology, San Diego State University , San Diego, California.
J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol. 2014 Jun 1;3(2):59-65. doi: 10.1089/jayao.2013.0031.
Cancer survivors in their adolescent and young adult (AYA) years are an understudied population, possibly in part because of the high effort required to recruit them into research studies. The aim of this paper is to describe the specific recruitment strategies used in four studies recruiting AYA-aged female cancer survivors and to identify the highest yielding approaches. We also discuss challenges and recommendations. We recruited AYA-aged female cancer survivors for two studies conducted locally and two conducted nationally. Recruitment strategies included outreach and referral via: healthcare providers and clinics; social media and the internet; community and word of mouth; and a national fertility information hotline. We calculated the yield of each recruitment approach for the local and national studies by comparing the number that participated to the number of potential participants. We recruited a total of 534 participants into four research studies. Seventy-one percent were diagnosed as young adults and 61% were within 3 years of their cancer diagnosis. The highest-yielding local recruitment strategy was healthcare provider and clinic referral. Nationally, social media and internet outreach yielded the highest rate of participation. Overall, internet-based recruitment resulted in the highest number and yield of participants. Our results suggest that outreach through social media and the internet are effective approaches to recruiting AYA-aged female cancer survivors. Forging collaborative relationships with survivor advocacy groups' members and healthcare providers also proved beneficial.
处于青少年和青年期（AYA）的癌症幸存者是一个研究不足的群体，部分原因可能是招募他们参与研究需要付出巨大努力。本文旨在描述四项招募AYA年龄段女性癌症幸存者的研究中所采用的具体招募策略，并确定成功率最高的方法。我们还将讨论挑战和建议。我们为两项本地开展的研究和两项全国性开展的研究招募了AYA年龄段的女性癌症幸存者。招募策略包括通过以下方式进行宣传和推荐：医疗服务提供者和诊所；社交媒体和互联网；社区和口碑；以及一条全国性的生育信息热线。我们通过比较参与人数与潜在参与者人数，计算了本地和全国性研究中每种招募方法的成功率。我们总共招募了534名参与者参与四项研究。71%的参与者被诊断为青年，61%的参与者在癌症确诊后3年内。本地招募成功率最高的策略是医疗服务提供者和诊所推荐。在全国范围内，社交媒体和互联网宣传的参与率最高。总体而言，基于互联网的招募带来了最多的参与者数量和成功率。我们的结果表明，通过社交媒体和互联网进行宣传是招募AYA年龄段女性癌症幸存者的有效方法。与幸存者倡导组织成员和医疗服务提供者建立合作关系也被证明是有益的。
