title: Recruiting hard-to-reach drug-using men who have sex with men into an intervention study: lessons learned and implications for applied research.
abstract: Drug (ab)use researchers and service providers across the globe have been challenged with locating target populations and subsequently enrolling participants into their programs. This study presents data from nearly 3 years (2004-2006) of recruiting "high-risk" drug-using gay and bisexual men into a clinical research trial based in New York City. During the enrollment period, two recruitment/marketing strategies were utilized: (1) marketing of the intervention research study itself to men who were in the early stages of identifying problems with their drug use and risky sexual behavior and (2) two-stage recruitment via a lower-threshold/commitment (i.e., brief survey) and subsequent offering/enrollment into the full trial upon completion of the initial visit (i.e., a foot-in-the-door). The second approach was substantially more effective in enrolling participants into the full trial (6.3 participants/month vs. 2.5 participants/month). Furthermore, recruitment costs for the foot-in-the-door approach were substantially reduced ($356.57 per participant vs. $497.03 per participant). Compared to the marketing of interventions themselves to target populations, a two-stage recruitment strategy incorporating lower-threshold interactions may be a more effective approach to recruit for interventions.
authors.affiliation: Center for HIV/AIDS Educational Studies and Training, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grov
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bux
authors.forename: Jeffrey T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morgenstern
mesh_terms: D001727:Bisexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D055030:Drug Users / Q000523:psychology*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D018579:Patient Selection; D012107:Research Design; D012309:Risk-Taking