Recruitment barriers and successes of the American Lung Association's Not-On-Tobacco Program.
This paper explores recruitment barriers and successes with research involving Not-On-Tobacco, the American Lung Association's (ALA) teen smoking cessation program. Forty-six program facilitators across four N-O-T studies completed a questionnaire to assess recruitment methods used, effectiveness of chosen methods, and recruitment barriers. Facilitators reported the most effective recruitment methods were "one-on-one conversation with students" (53.3%) and interpersonal contact where students received lollipops and information about N-O-T (33.3%; "lick-the-habit table"). The most frequently reported barriers to recruitment were "students not interested" (60.9%) and "active parental consent" (28.3%). The greatest barrier to obtaining active parental consent, as reported by facilitators, was "students did not want to tell parents they smoked" (78.3%). Findings suggest that recruitment presented a challenge to N-O-T research partners, including investigators, ALA staff, and program facilitators. However, recruitment was effective when active recruitment techniques such as maximized interpersonal contact involving one-on-one conversation were used.
Massey
Catherine J
CJ
Dept. of Psychology, 226 Vincent Science Hall, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA 16057, USA. catherine.massey@sru.edu
Dino
Geri A
GA
Horn
Kimberly A
KA
Lacey-McCracken
Angela
A
Goldcamp
Jennifer
J
Kalsekar
Iftekhar
I
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D015397:Program Evaluation; D035842:Research Subjects; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D014837:Voluntary Health Agencies / Q000458:organization & administration*