221460 Please sign up! Recruiting low-income families into health intervention research

Monday, November 8, 2010

Laurie Schnirer, PhD , Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families, Faculty of Extention, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Holly Stack-Cutler, MA, MEd , Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families, Faculty of Extention, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Cheryl Gagnier, BA, BSW, RSW , Community Services, City of Edmonton, Edmonton, AB, Canada
INTRODUCTION: Barriers that low-income families experience (e.g., lack of time, unstable housing) shape long-term and negative impacts on health and well-being, limiting their access to benefits offered by services, programs, and research. Effectively engaging low-income families is an on-going, significant challenge for health researchers. In this study, we examine the recruitment processes of engaging low-income families into a 5-year longitudinal community-based randomized controlled trial—Families First Edmonton (FFE). FFE collaborates with 17 community, government, and university partners to provide recreation, health, and social services to low-income families. METHOD: Uptake of over 1700 low-income families into the intervention was tracked. We developed a 5-step recruitment model, examining family characteristics, community characteristics, and time lag data between recruitment steps. RESULTS: From the time invitation letters were mailed until families' consent, families required 2–624 days (M = 112; SD = 119.64), 1–53 phone calls (M = 3.6; SD = 4.33), and 2–164 phone call minutes (M = 26.5; SD = 16.08) to engage in the intervention. We examined family and community characteristics to understand why some families took longer to engage than others. For instance, immigrant/refugee families, families needing an interpreter, and primary caregivers working full-time took more days to complete the first home visit than their counterparts. CONCLUSION: As can been seen from the data, understanding effective practices of recruiting low-income families into research is vital in order for program providers, researchers, and policy makers to allocate enough time and resources to ensure equitable service access for underserved populations.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Advocacy for health and health education
Diversity and culture
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
1: Challenge the assumptions of underserved populations by discussing family and service barriers low-income families experience when engaging in research and programs 2: Discuss ways to incorporate evidence-based practices into recruitment activities to maximize the recruitment of low-income families 3: Demonstrate differences between low-income families who were ready to engage with the intervention compared to those who took longer to engage

Keywords: Community-Based Health Promotion, Underserved Populations

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I am the Associate Director of the Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth, and Families at the University of Alberta; I am PI of the research program examining practices of recruiting low-income families into programs and research; and as a community-based researcher, I have been working on large-scale research projects for over 10 years.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.