Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, United States.
J Med Internet Res. 2021 Jul 12;23(7):e23959. doi: 10.2196/23959.
Racial and ethnic minority groups are underrepresented in health research, contributing to persistent health disparities in the United States. Identifying effective recruitment and retention strategies among minority groups and their subpopulations is an important research agenda. Web-based intervention approaches are becoming increasingly popular with the ubiquitous use of the internet. However, it is not completely clear which recruitment and retention strategies have been successful in web-based intervention trials targeting racial and ethnic minorities.
This study aims to describe lessons learned in recruiting and retaining one of the understudied ethnic minority women-Korean Americans-enrolled in a web-based intervention trial and to compare our findings with the strategies reported in relevant published web-based intervention trials.
Multiple sources of data were used to address the objectives of this study, including the study team's meeting minutes, participant tracking and contact logs, survey reports, and postintervention interviews. In addition, an electronic search involving 2 databases (PubMed and CINAHL) was performed to identify published studies using web-based interventions. Qualitative analysis was then performed to identify common themes addressing recruitment and retention strategies across the trials using web-based intervention modalities.
A total of 9 categories of recruitment and retention strategies emerged: authentic care; accommodation of time, place, and transportation; financial incentives; diversity among the study team; multiple, yet standardized modes of communication; mobilizing existing community relationships with efforts to build trust; prioritizing features of web-based intervention; combined use of web-based and direct recruitment; and self-directed web-based intervention with human support. Although all the studies included in the analysis combined multiple strategies, prioritizing features of web-based intervention or use of human support were particularly relevant for promoting recruitment and retention of racial and ethnic minorities in web-based intervention trials.
The growing prevalence of internet use among racial and ethnic minority populations represents an excellent opportunity to design and deliver intervention programs via the internet. Future research should explore and compare successful recruitment and retention methods among race and ethnic groups for web-based interventions.
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03726619; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03726619.
在美国，少数族裔群体在健康研究中的代表性不足，导致持续存在健康差距。确定少数族裔及其亚群中有效的招募和保留策略是一个重要的研究议程。基于互联网的干预方法随着互联网的普遍使用而变得越来越流行。然而，目前尚不完全清楚针对少数族裔的基于网络的干预试验中哪些招募和保留策略是成功的。
本研究旨在描述一项针对韩国裔美国女性的基于网络的干预试验中招募和保留参与者的经验教训，并将我们的发现与相关已发表的基于网络的干预试验中报告的策略进行比较。
使用多种来源的数据来解决本研究的目标，包括研究小组的会议记录、参与者跟踪和联系记录、调查报告和干预后访谈。此外，还进行了一项涉及 2 个数据库（PubMed 和 CINAHL）的电子搜索，以确定使用基于网络的干预措施的已发表研究。然后，使用基于网络的干预模式对招募和保留策略进行定性分析，以确定跨试验的共同主题。
共出现了 9 类招募和保留策略：真实关怀；适应时间、地点和交通；经济奖励；研究团队的多样性；多种但标准化的沟通方式；利用现有社区关系建立信任；优先考虑基于网络的干预特点；结合使用基于网络的和直接招募；以及自我指导的基于网络的干预措施，辅以人力支持。尽管分析中包含的所有研究都结合了多种策略，但优先考虑基于网络的干预特点或使用人力支持对于促进基于网络的干预试验中少数族裔的招募和保留尤为重要。
少数族裔人口中互联网使用的日益普及为通过互联网设计和提供干预计划提供了极好的机会。未来的研究应探索和比较不同种族和族裔群体在基于网络的干预措施中成功的招募和保留方法。
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03726619；https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03726619。
