Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, AB, T1K 3M4, Canada.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2022 Aug;9(4):1415-1421. doi: 10.1007/s40615-021-01078-5. Epub 2021 Jun 7.
African immigrant women are underrepresented in health research on maternal mental health. Thus, there is a need to highlight successful recruitment strategies to engage African women in health-oriented research. This paper offers insights on recruitment strategies utilized in recruiting African immigrant women in Alberta (Canada) with infants 2 years of age or under for a survey study on maternal mental health. We recruited 136 African immigrant women. Most participants were recruited by using already established social networks in the community. Other successful strategies included referral from community partners (i.e., immigrant organizations, cultural association, religious institutions), participants, utilizing an online survey tool (i.e., Qualtrics), and through family and friend networks (i.e., word-of-mouth). This study evidently highlights the importance of utilizing multiple recruitment strategies to successfully meet the desired sample size for a survey study. We believe the lessons learned during the process of recruitment will be helpful for others working with other African immigrant women populations in Canada and in other Western societies.
非洲移民妇女在孕产妇心理健康的健康研究中代表性不足。因此，有必要强调成功的招募策略，以吸引非洲妇女参与以健康为导向的研究。本文提供了在加拿大阿尔伯塔省（加拿大）为一项关于孕产妇心理健康的调查研究中招募 2 岁或以下婴儿的非洲移民妇女时所采用的招募策略的见解。我们招募了 136 名非洲移民妇女。大多数参与者是通过已经在社区中建立的社交网络招募的。其他成功的策略包括社区合作伙伴（即移民组织、文化协会、宗教机构）、参与者的转介，使用在线调查工具（即 Qualtrics），以及通过家庭和朋友网络（即口碑）。这项研究清楚地强调了利用多种招募策略来成功满足调查研究所需样本量的重要性。我们相信，在招募过程中吸取的经验教训将对加拿大和其他西方社会中其他与非洲移民妇女群体合作的人有所帮助。
