Impact of supplemental site grants to increase African American accrual for the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial.
BACKGROUND
African American accrual to prevention trials at rates representative of the disease burden experienced by this population requires additional resources and focused efforts.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the rationale, context, and criteria for selection of sites that received Minority Recruitment Enhancement Grants (MREGs) to increase African American recruitment to the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT). To determine if African American accrual was higher among the 15 MREG sites when compared with similar nonawarded sites.


METHODS
Changes in African American accrual at sites that received MREGs are compared with changes in a group of 15, frequency-matched, nonawarded sites using a quasi-experimental, post hoc analysis. Successful and unsuccessful recruitment strategies reported by the MREG sites are described.


RESULTS
The increased number of African American participants accrued per month at MREG sites post-funding was higher than the change at comparison sites by a factor of 3.38 (p = 0.004, 95% CI: 1.51-7.57). An estimated 602 additional African American participants were recruited at MREG sites due to MREG funding, contributing to the overall 14.9% African American recruitment. Successful recruitment strategies most reported by MREG sites included increasing staff, transportation resources, recruiting through the media, mailings, and prostate cancer screening clinics during off-hours.


CONCLUSIONS
Comparison sites were chosen retrospectively, not by randomization. Although comparison sites were selected to be similar to MREG sites with regard to potential confounding factors, it is possible that unknown factors could have biased results. Cost-effective analyses were not conducted.


CONCLUSIONS
MREG sites increased African American accrual in the post-funding period more than comparison sites, indicating MREG funding enhanced the sites' abilities to accrue African American participants. Targeted grants early in the accrual period may be a useful multi-site intervention to increase African American accrual for a prevention study where adequate African American representation is essential.
MD Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas, Houston, TX 77230-1439, USA. edcook@mdanderson.org
Elise D
ED
Cook
Kathryn B
KB
Arnold
John A
JA
Hermos
Worta
W
McCaskill-Stevens
Sarah
S
Moody-Thomas
Jeffrey L
JL
Probstfield
Sandra J
SJ
Hamilton
Russell D
RD
Campbell
Karen B
KB
Anderson
Lori M
LM
Minasian
D001741:Black or African American; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018579:Patient Selection; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012109:Research Support as Topic / Q000191:economics*; D012643:Selenium / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014481:United States; D014810:Vitamin E / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D000975:Antioxidants; D014810:Vitamin E; D012643:Selenium