Enrollment Challenges: Recruiting Men to Weight Loss Interventions

Obese men are at an increased risk of chronic disease and are far less likely than women to attempt weight loss. There is a need to successfully recruit men to weight loss clinical trials. Overweight and obese men were recruited to a 6-month, randomized, controlled weight loss trial. Initial recruit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of men's health 2019-01, Vol.13 (1), p.1557988319832120-1557988319832120
Main Authors: Rounds, Tiffany, Harvey, Jean
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Enrollments
Health Behavior
Health risk assessment
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Obesity
Obesity - prevention & control
Original
Overweight - prevention & control
Patient Selection
Recruitment
Research Design
Vermont
Weight Loss
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Summary:Obese men are at an increased risk of chronic disease and are far less likely than women to attempt weight loss. There is a need to successfully recruit men to weight loss clinical trials. Overweight and obese men were recruited to a 6-month, randomized, controlled weight loss trial. Initial recruitment efforts were aimed at men in the workplace with less than or equal to 2 years of college education. After unsatisfactory interest from men and businesses alike, recruitment strategy shifted to enroll men outside the workplace with any educational background. Recruitment methods included word of mouth, email and website advertisements, printed posters in local businesses and doctors’ offices, Facebook ads, and a 1-week newspaper ad campaign. Initial interest and enrollment was negligible with only 35 men enrolled in the first 7 months. The launch of a 1-week newspaper advertisement was the most useful recruitment technique and 102 overweight/obese men were successfully enrolled. Study retention remained high throughout the Gutbusters program, indicating targeted, effective recruitment, and not weight loss interest, may be the largest barrier to trial participation for overweight and obese men.
ISSN:1557-9883
1557-9891
DOI:10.1177/1557988319832120