The Costs of Recruitment and Retention of Women from Community-Based Programs into a Randomized Controlled Contraceptive Study

• Published in: Journal of health care for the poor and underserved Vol. 19; no. 2; pp. 639 - 651
• Main Authors: Rdesinski, Rebecca E, Melnick, Alan L, Creach, E. Dawn, Cozzens, Jessica, Carney, Patricia A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Johns Hopkins University Press 01.05.2008
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Birth control; Clinical research; Clinical trials; Community based programmes; Community Health Nursing - methods; Community Participation - methods; Community-based programs; Contraception; Contraceptives; Cost estimates; Data collection; Domiciliary visits; Families & family life; Family planning; Federal funding; Female; Health insurance; Health services; House Calls; Humans; Infants; Low income groups; Mothers; Nurses; Patient Selection; Poverty Areas; Public health; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic - methods; Recruitment; Referrals; Reproductive health; Retention; Socioeconomic Factors; Socioeconomic status; Socioeconomics; Time use; Women; Womens health
• ISSN: 1049-2089; 1548-6869; 1548-6869
• DOI: 10.1353/hpu.0.0016

Study aim . Assessing recruitment and retention activities needed to enroll women identified through community-based programs (such as the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program) into a randomized controlled clinical trial on nurse-delivered contraceptives in the home. The majority of women in this study had low socioeconomic status indicators and low levels of education, and the majority were young. Methods . Recruitment sources and number of contact-attempts were collected and analyzed. Full time equivalents needed to undertake these activities were estimated. Results . Two hundred and forty five women were identified in recruiting and enrolling 103 study participants involving 1,232 contact-attempts. Self-referral had the highest ratio of referrals to enrollees (55.6%), while this ratio was the lowest for community outreach (33.3%). Retention activities succeeded in maintaining over 90% of the sample. Ninety-two percent of English-speaking participants completed the study versus 79% of Spanish-speaking participants. The time expenditure per enrollee was 10.4 hours for recruitment and 1.2 hours for retention, with an estimated cost per enrollee of $324.03 for recruitment and $39.14 for retention. More retention activities were required to maintain women in the comparison group than in the intervention group.