Active vs. passive methods of recruiting ethnic minority women to a health promotion program

Ethnic minority women have been underrepresented in health promotion research. There is a need to develop effective methods of recruiting ethnic minority women to health promotion programs and research studies. This article evaluates several methods for recruiting ethnic minority women to a study of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of behavioral medicine 1997, Vol.19 (4), p.378-384
Main Authors: Lee, R E, McGinnis, K A, Sallis, J F, Castro, C M, Chen, A H, Hickmann, S A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Cardiovascular Diseases - prevention & control
Cardiovascular Diseases - psychology
Efficiency
Female
Health Education
Health Promotion
Health psychology
Humans
Internal-External Control
Life Style
Medical screening
Methods
Middle Aged
Minority & ethnic groups
Minority Groups - psychology
Motivation
Patient Acceptance of Health Care - psychology
Response rates
Social networks
Treatment Outcome
Walking - psychology
Wellness programs
Womens health
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Summary:Ethnic minority women have been underrepresented in health promotion research. There is a need to develop effective methods of recruiting ethnic minority women to health promotion programs and research studies. This article evaluates several methods for recruiting ethnic minority women to a study of a telephone and mail intervention encouraging participation in a home-based walking program. One hundred twenty-six sedentary ethnic minority women between the ages of 25 and 55 were recruited using two types of approaches. Number of participants screened, number enrolled, and recruitment efficiency (ratio of number recruited/number screened) were assessed. "Active" recruitment, contacting targeted individuals in person, by phone, or by mail, yielded 236 screened and 29 recruited with a recruitment efficiency of 11%. "Passive" recruitment, informing the community through public notices and waiting for volunteers to call, yielded 151 screened and 97 recruited with a recruitment efficiency of 64%. Those recruited by active or passive methods did not differ by demographic characteristics, baseline psychosocial variables, or dropout rates. Passive recruits walked significantly more at five-month follow-up than active recruits. Passive recruitment may be more economical at the cost of potentially biased samples.
ISSN:0883-6612
1532-4796
DOI:10.1007/BF02895157