Barriers to and Strategies for Recruiting Korean Americans for Community-Partnered Health Promotion Research

Abstract

While increasing numbers of researchers are targeting ethnic minorities in order to address their health disparities, the unique health needs of Korean Americans are not well known to the mainstream community, and only relatively few systematic research studies have been conducted in this "hard-to reach" population. The purpose of this paper is to describe the barriers to recruiting participants for health promotion research and to identify facilitators in the community that can contribute to this effort. We have analyzed data pertaining to the 14 studies we have conducted since 1998, which included a total sample of about 2,400 Korean Americans. We describe in detail the unique recruitment challenges that we have faced in regard to the culture, language, sociodemographic characteristics of the participants, such as gender and age, and other community level barriers. Multiple strategies at different levels (individual and community) to address these issues are discussed.

Factors Associated with Willingness to Participate in Biospecimen Research Among Chinese Americans

“…53 Knowledge of specific and general medical information has been linked to health behaviors such as screening. 50,51,[54][55][56][57] Findings from the present study suggest that Chinese Americans with higher collectivism views were more willing to participate in biospecimen research compared with those with less collectivism views, although this did not remain significant in multivariate analyses. Collectivists value actions with benefits to society and social life [23][24][25][26][27][28] and so support medical research by being willing to donate blood.…”

Culturally Competent Social Work Research: Methodological Considerations for Research with Language Minorities

“…To this end, due to the paucity of research with this population, a literature review alone may not be sufficient to develop contextually relevant research questions. One possible strategy includes conducting focus groups with community leaders and providers and enlisting a culturally and linguistically specific committee composed of community leaders to consult during the research development process (Han, Kang, Kim, Ryu, & Kim, 2007;Ogilvie, Burgess-Pinto, & Caufield, 2008). Work with these community leaders can assist researchers in understanding the sociopolitical context of the community where the target language minority individuals live.…”

“…In fact, this buy-in from community leaders will facilitate the recruitment of study participants. Consistent communication with and exposure to the community has been found to be an effective strategy for building trusting relationships with community leaders and securing their support (Han et al, 2007;Yancey, Ortega, & Kumanyike, 2005). Such relationship building requires additional time and effort both before and during research; therefore, researchers may need to build extra time and flexibility into their time table.…”

“…Because of their potentially fragile immigration status, for example, many language minorities may fear involvement in formal activities, such as research. Language minorities may then be reluctant to sign formal documents, even when these are translated into their language (Han et al, 2007), out of a fear of compromising their immigration status. For some immigrants, signing a technical form may also remind them of traumatic or difficult experiences in their home country (Yick & Berthold, 2005).…”

Barriers to Healthcare Among Asian Americans

“…The first generation of Asian Americans, especially the elderly, tends to hold different beliefs on healthcare. For example, many seek healthcare only when their symptoms are severe enough as not to be resolved with standard preventive care (Han, Kang, Kim, Ryu, & Kim, 2007).…”