Recruitment of African American men who have sex with men for Project BRO, an HIV/STD risk reduction intervention

Issues: The incidence of HIV/AIDS among African American men who have sex with men is alarming, and the public health response to this urgent situation has been hampered by a lack of sexual risk reduction interventions with solid evidence of efficacy in this population. This lack of interventions have also resulted in lack of consensus on the most effective recruitment and retention methods for this population. This presentation will review successful recruitment strategies used to reach African American MSM.

Description: The first stage of the strategy required research staff to become embedded in the community, largely through community partnerships. Secondly, we utilized traditional mass media by advertising in a local newspaper. Finally, to reach younger segments of the population we utilized social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter. We also incorporated text messaging and mobile phones as primary forms of communication.

Lessons Learned: To date, we have reached and often exceeded our recruitment and retention goals for multiple projects in this community. Varying recruitment methods are necessary to reach different segments of this population. New media technologies like SMS text messaging, Facebook, and Twitter provide excellent opportunities to reach younger participants.

Recommendations: Knowledge and respect of the target population is a key component of a successful recruitment strategy. Identifying the unique needs, concerns and communication preferences of the target population remains a crucial step. As much as possible, researchers should strive to fit the research into the lives of the participant, not to fit participants into the research agenda.