title: Effectiveness of respondent driven sampling to recruit undocumented Central American immigrant women in Houston, Texas for an HIV behavioral survey.
abstract: Respondent driven sampling (RDS) is widely used for HIV behavioral research among sex workers, drug users, and other hidden populations, but has had limited application in immigrant populations in the U.S. In 2010, we used RDS to recruit undocumented Central American immigrant women in Houston, Texas for an HIV behavioral survey. Beginning with three initial participants we recruited 226 women within 16 weeks. Social networks were dense and participants adopted the recruitment system with reasonable ease. Homophily scores indicated moderate within-group preference by country of origin. However, cross-group recruitment was sufficient to achieve a diverse sample that attained equilibrium for all demographic and sexual behavior characteristics. Overall, RDS was easy to implement, attained a large sample in a relatively short period of time, and reached an otherwise hidden population. Our results suggest that RDS is an effective method for recruiting undocumented Latina immigrants for HIV behavioral surveys.
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Sciences, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, USA. jrmontea@bcm.edu
authors.forename: Jane R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Montealegre
authors.forename: Jan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Risser
authors.forename: Beatrice J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Selwyn
authors.forename: Sheryl A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: McCurdy
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sabin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004522:Educational Status; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013781:Texas / Q000453:epidemiology