Recruitment of African-American pre-adolescent girls into an obesity prevention trial: the GEMS pilot studies.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this report is to describe the methods used to recruit 8- to 10-year-old African-American girls into four 12-week randomized controlled pilot studies on obesity prevention.


METHODS
The Girls health Enrichment Multi-site Study (GEMS) involved 4 field centers which independently developed and tested interventions designed to prevent excess weight gain in African-American girls. Each field center developed its own recruitment plan, but used a standardized recruitment reporting form. The goal was to recruit 40-60 girls, depending on the center.


METHODS
Recruitment yields were computed at each site. Socio-demographic data and weight status were collected for 210 African-American girls who were randomized into the study, as well as for their parents/caregivers. Data were collected on the sources from which participants heard about the study, and the reasons for their interest in the project.


RESULTS
The 4 field centers used multiple, but different, recruitment strategies. The most commonly used approaches were mailings, flyers, radio announcements, and group presentations. Caregivers were most likely to hear about the program from the radio (29%), a flyer from the school (23%), or from their child (18%). Among caregivers, the most common reasons for participating were: interest in health (56%), interest in diet/health (51%), and believing the program would be fun for their child (46%). The most frequent reason given by girls was that the program sounded like fun (70%). Three of the 4 field centers met their recruitment target goals.


CONCLUSIONS
The GEMS experience demonstrates the feasibility of recruiting and enrolling African-American girls in short-term intervention studies of behavior change. The multiple recruitment strategies, which included developing trusting relationships in the respective communities, were considered critical to the success of recruitment.
Story
Mary
M
University of Minnesota, Division of Epidemiology, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55454, USA. story@epi.umn.edu
Sherwood
Nancy E
NE
Obarzanek
Eva
E
Beech
Bettina M
BM
Baranowski
Janice C
JC
Thompson
Nikko S
NS
Owens
Ayisha S
AS
Mitchell
Megan
M
Rochon
James
J
D000329:Advertising; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D018579:Patient Selection; D010865:Pilot Projects; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D040241:Social Marketing; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States