Bridging the gap: recruitment of African-American women into mental health research studies.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a strategy for recruiting African-American women into a research study for pregnant women.


METHODS
With few exceptions, NIH-funded investigators must include women and minorities in clinical research. The authors used the recommendations provided in the Outreach Notebook for the NIH Guidelines on Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical Research as a guide to help them reach out to African-American women in the community.


CONCLUSIONS
The outreach experience led to a conference for African-American women about mental health. On the basis of this experience, the authors formulated a five-pronged approach for recruitment of African-American women into their study. The NIH guidelines were useful for this purpose.
Meinert
Judith A
JA
Women's Mental HealthCARE, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Blehar
Mary C
MC
Peindl
Kathleen S
KS
Neal-Barnett
Angela
A
Wisner
Katherine L
KL
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D001741:Black or African American; D008603:Mental Health; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.); D018579:Patient Selection; D012106:Research; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce