title: Recruiting and retaining couples for an HIV prevention intervention: lessons learned from the PARTNERS project.
abstract: Intervening with both members of a couple has been recommended as an important strategy for human immunodeficiency virus prevention. Analyses of focus groups and in-depth interviews with project personnel involved in recruitment and retention for the Partners Against Risk-Taking: A Networking and Evaluation Research Study project identified, at the termination of the project, barriers and facilitators to recruiting couples. Barriers included logistical problems of coordinating two people's schedules, sensitivity of the topic and challenges related to recruitment efforts focused on one partner only. Strategies to overcome such barriers were to increase availability of project personnel and recruit both partners simultaneously, with recruitment teams consisting of men and women. Challenges related to recruiting and retaining couples remain significant and should be considered before undertaking couples interventions.
authors.affiliation: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of Reproductive Health/Women's Health and Fertility Branch, Atlanta, GA 30030, USA. kdp5@cdc.gov
authors.forename: Katina A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Pappas-DeLuca
authors.forename: Joan Marie
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kraft
authors.forename: Sherri L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: America
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casillas
authors.forename: S Marie
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.forename: Heather C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Huszti
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018579:Patient Selection; D011247:Pregnancy; D011275:Pregnancy, Unwanted; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control