Recruiting a Diverse Group of Middle School Girls Into the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls

• Published in: The Journal of school health 2008-10, Vol.78 (10), p.523-531
• Main Authors: Elder, John P., Shuler, LaVerne, Moe, Stacey G., Grieser, Mira, Pratt, Charlotte, Cameron, Sandra, Hingle, Melanie, Pickrel, Julie L., Saksvig, Brit I., Schachter, Kenneth, Greer, Susan, Guth Bothwell, Elizabeth K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent girls; Adolescents; Age Factors; Behavior; Child; Children; Children & youth; Colleges & universities; Cross-Sectional Studies; Cultural Diversity; Educational research; Evaluation; Female; Females; Flexibility; Girls; Grade 4; Health Promotion - methods; Humans; Incentives; Industry hiring; Intervention; Junior high school students; Methods; Middle and junior high school students; Middle School Students; Middle Schools; Motivation; Motor Activity; Multicenter Studies as Topic - methods; Nursing; Participant observation; Participation; Participatory research; Patient Selection; Physical Activities; physical activity; Population; Pretests Posttests; R&D; Recruiting; Recruitment; Research & development; Research administrators; Research Design; school-based research; Schools; Student Participation; TAAG; United States
• ISSN: 0022-4391; 1746-1561
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2008.00339.x

ABSTRACT Background:  School‐based study recruitment efforts are both time consuming and challenging. This paper highlights the recruitment strategies employed by the national, multisite Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG), a study designed to measure the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce the decline of physical activity levels among middle school–aged girls. TAAG provided a unique opportunity to recruit large cohorts of randomly sampled girls within 36 diverse middle schools across the United States. Methods:  Key elements of the formative planning, coordination, and design of TAAG’s recruitment efforts included flexibility, tailoring, and the use of incentives. Various barriers, including a natural disaster, political tension, and district regulations, were encountered throughout the recruitment process, but coordinated strategies and frequent communication between the 6 TAAG sites were helpful in tailoring the recruitment process at the 36 intervention and control schools. Results:  Progressively refined recruitment strategies and specific attention to the target audience of middle school girls resulted in overall study recruitment rates of 80%, 85%, and 89%, for the baseline, posttest, and follow‐up period, respectively. Discussion:  The steady increase in recruitment rates over time is attributed to an emphasis on successful strategies and a willingness to modify less successful methods. Open and consistent communication, an increasingly coordinated recruitment strategy, interactive recruitment presentations, and participant incentives resulted in an effective recruitment campaign.