Objectives: To learn about strategies to successfully recruit study participants. Abstract: Recruiting study participants is always a challenge for researchers. It poses an even bigger challenge for researchers to recruit participants for a study involving intrusive, burdensome data collection activities. A study of preschool children's exposure to persistent organic pesticides and other persistent organic pollutants is being conducted in North Carolina and Ohio. Participants are recruited from daycare centers and from the general population using a random digit dialing (RDD) method. Participant data are collected over a 48-hour period. The data include samples of food, beverages, drinking water, urine, indoor and outdoor air, hand wipes, indoor floor dust, play area soil, dislodgeable pesticide residues, smooth floor wipes, and food preparation surface wipes. Personal interviews are conducted with the adult caregiver and the daycare staff to collect additional exposure information. Children's activities during the 48-hour period are recorded by the adult caregiver and daycare staff in activity diaries. Strategies for enhancing the response rates are based on previous pilot studies. These strategies include: a tailored recruitment plan for the target population (i.e., daycare centers, working parents, non-working parents), letters of endorsement from childcare associations and state licensing agencies, a certificate of confidentiality, crafting a persuasive introductory letter and study brochure, using FedEx for delivering introductory letters, multiple follow-ups (telephone and personal visit), participant training, non-monetary incentives, and monetary incentives. The initial recruitment results are 73% daycare center response rate, 80% daycare parents response rate, and 68% RDD response rate.
Learning Objectives: Objectives: To learn about strategies to successfully recruit study participants.
Keywords: Environmental Exposures, Children
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.