Lessons Learned from Community-Led Recruitment of Immigrants and Refugee Participants for a Randomized, Community-Based Participatory Research Study

• Published in: Journal of immigrant and minority health Vol. 18; no. 5; pp. 1241 - 1246
• Main Authors: Hanza, Marcelo M., Goodson, Miriam, Osman, Ahmed, Capetillo, Maria D. Porraz, Hared, Abdullah, Nigon, Julie A., Meiers, Sonja J., Weis, Jennifer A., Wieland, Mark L., Sia, Irene G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer Science + Business Media 01.10.2016; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; African Americans; BRIEF COMMUNICATION; Citizen Participation; Clinical research; Clinical trials; Communication; Communication (Thought Transfer); Community based action research; Community involvement; Community participation; Community Relations; Community-Based Participatory Research - methods; Comparative Law; Disadvantaged; Education; Emigrants and Immigrants; Enrollments; Ethnic factors; Exercise; Family (Sociological Unit); Female; Health care industry; Health disparities; Hispanic Americans; Human subjects; Humans; Immigrants; Internal Medicine; International & Foreign Law; Language; Latin American cultural groups; Male; Medical research; Medicine & Public Health; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority groups; Noncitizens; Nutrition; Participatory research; Patient Selection; Physical activity; Populations; Pregnancy; Pretesting; Private International Law; Public Health; Randomization; Recruitment; Refugees; Sociology; Somalia - ethnology; State Schools; State Universities; Studies; Sudan - ethnology; United States > US; Community-based participatory research; Randomized trial; Refugees; Immigrants; Recruitment
• ISSN: 1557-1912; 1557-1920; 1557-1920
• DOI: 10.1007/s10903-016-0394-2

Ethnic minorities remain underrepresented in clinical trials despite efforts to increase their enrollment. Although community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches have been effective for conducting research studies in minority and socially disadvantaged populations, protocols for CBPR recruitment design and implementation among immigrants and refugees have not been well described. We used a community-led and community-implemented CBPR strategy for recruiting 45 Hispanic, Somali, and Sudanese families (160 individuals) to participate in a large, randomized, community-based trial aimed at evaluating a physical activity and nutrition intervention. We achieved 97.7 % of our recruitment goal for families and 94.4 % for individuals. Use of a CBPR approach is an effective strategy for recruiting immigrant and refugee participants for clinical trials. We believe the lessons we learned during the process of participatory recruitment design and implementation will be helpful for others working with these populations.