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

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.