Mother–Daughter Dyad Recruitment and Cancer Intervention Challenges in an African American Sample

Abstract

Developing an effective youth-based health messaging intervention for African American women, who remain disparately impacted by cancer, presents unique challenges. This paper reports on the challenges with recruiting familial dyads from predominantly low-income, African American neighborhoods, as well as the challenges associated with designing and implementing an upward-directed cancer screening intervention. We developed and pilot tested an educational workshop that provided adolescents with cancer screening information to share with their mother or female relative. Data from follow-up interviews and focus groups, as well as observation records regarding implementation obstacles highlight important lessons learned. The use of familial dyads as well as issues of access posed challenges for recruitment and follow-up. Workshop-related challenges stemmed from the approach, content and length. Finally, personal and environmental factors presented barriers to adolescent message delivery and adult follow-through. By identifying these challenges, we hope to influence and enable the future development of effective adolescent-initiated health messaging interventions.

Recruiting African American Children for Research: An Ecological Systems Theory Approach

“…In much research, incentives for children (and their siblings) are usually small gifts (e.g., school supplies, toys, crafts) or, for adolescents and parents, gift cards worth a nominal amount (Ely & Coleman, 2007; Wendler et al, 2002). However, many researchers have used cash incentives with adolescents and parents (Diviak, Wahl, O’Keefe, Mermelstein, & Flay, 2006; Kogan et al, 2012; Mosavel, Ports, & Leighton-Herrmann, 2014; Nguyen et al, 2014). Free health screening for children and adolescents has been found to be an incentive for parents (Nguyen et al, 2014).…”

“…Therefore, an important consideration for parents/caregivers is a reduction in the direct cost for participation, for example, by providing transportation and child care (Brannon et al, 2013; Murry & McBride, 2004; Waheed et al, 2015). In low-income areas, some researchers have discovered that phone recruitment is not particularly successful with African American participants, due to telephone disconnections or limited cell phone minutes (Artinian, Denison, & Nordstrom, 2007; Mosavel et al, 2014; Zand et al, 2004). Others have found that email addresses and/or Facebook pages are more consistent communication avenues (Rowley & Camacho, 2015).…”