title: Recruiting African American girls and parents for a secondary weight gain prevention study.
abstract: This research report describes the process and results of recruiting African American adolescent girls and parents for a secondary weight gain prevention study. We sought to recruit 60 girls with equal representation of at-risk for overweight (BMI percentile 85-95) and overweight (BMI > 95th percentile), and at least one obese (BMI > 30 kg/m2) parent. A personal and individual recruitment approach was the sole method utilized for recruitment of participants into this two-year Internet-based study targeting weight gain prevention. Participants were randomized to either an interactive behavioral condition or a health-based education (control) condition. Fifty-seven African American adolescent girls and their parents were enrolled in the study conducted at a university-based nutrition research center. One hundred eight adolescent girls volunteered and met the study criteria on the first contact, 95 interviewed in the clinic, 64 were randomized, and 57 (89%) of those randomized began the study. Seven percent of the study sample was comprised of African American girls at-risk for overweight, while the majority (93%) of those enrolled were overweight (BMI > 95th percentile). Our study sample comprised an imbalanced number of overweight versus at-risk for overweight African American girls suggesting that perhaps a clinic-based secondary weight gain prevention study may be an inefficient and ineffective setting for recruiting this population. Although we were successful in recruiting a majority of overweight girls, we conclude that the imbalance in the number of participants recruited is likely related to the sociocultural environment that predisposes African American girls to obesity and a lack of awareness by the parents' of the consequences of being overweight.
authors.affiliation: Pennington Biomedical Research Center, USA. Betty.Kennedy@pbrc.edu
authors.forename: Betty M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: York-Crowe
authors.forename: Heather M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Walden
authors.forename: Donna H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: Marney A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Donald A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Williamson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000193:education / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015984:Causality; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000458:organization & administration; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D050177:Overweight / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration; D018579:Patient Selection; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods; D012107:Research Design; D055502:Secondary Prevention / Q000379:methods; D012931:Social Environment