Respondent-driven sampling to recruit Latinos in a midwest micropolitan area: Lessons learned and recommendations for translational work

Abstract

Introduction Latinos constitute a hard-to-reach minority population in Iowa. Methods We used respondent-driven sampling (RDS) to supplement random digit dialing (RDD) to recruit Latinos for a community physical activity intervention. Results RDS yielded a 59% increase in Latino participation in just two months, with few demographic differences between RDS and RDD groups. Conclusions RDS may increase recruitment of underrepresented populations and strengthen community engagement; however, it is not a quick fix for underperforming recruitment methods.

Recruitment and Retention Strategies for Underrepresented Populations and Adults With Arthritis in Behavioral Interventions: A Scoping Review

“…Of the interventions and protocol/design papers describing interventions (Table 1), the studies were primarily focused on physical activity or exercise (n = 25) (44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55)58,59,(61)(62)(63)(64)(65)(66)(68)(69)(70)(71)(72)(73) with only 5 studies examining disease selfmanagement programs (43,49,56,57,60,67). Of the reviews included (Table 2), 1 focused on recruitment strategies used for disease self-management programs (78), and 7 summarized recruitment and/or retention strategies for physical activity or exercise interventions (21,(79)(80)(81)(82)(83)(84).…”

“…Among physical activity or exercise interventions, a few studies targeted populations with arthritis, including osteoarthritis (58,73), rheumatoid arthritis (73), and FM (50). The majority of studies included primarily African American (44)(45)(46)(47)(48)51,52,54,55,59,(64)(65)(66) or Hispanic or Latino populations (53,54,62,66,69,71,72). The reviews of strategies used in physical activity/exercise interventions primarily focused on underserved or underrepresented (21,79,(82)(83)(84) or African American populations (80).…”

“…Most articles were intervention papers (n = 24) (43–66) or protocol or design papers describing interventions (n = 7) (67–73). The remaining articles were qualitative or descriptive studies (n = 4) (74–77) or reviews (n = 8) (21,78–84).…”

“…Although we excluded studies that delivered the intervention entirely in a clinical setting or only recruited from a clinical setting, 12 studies (46,50,51,53,58,59,61,64,68,69,71,73) and 1 review (80) used clinical practices and referrals from within them as part of a broader approach to recruitment. Another common strategy used in 13 studies (44–47,50,51,55,62–65,70,75), 3 qualitative/descriptive papers (74,76,77), and mentioned in nearly all reviews of physical activity interventions (21,79,81–84) was to recruit participants via word of mouth, social networking, and/or referrals from other study participants. In some cases, this was an intentional strategy, and in other cases it was not.…”

Comparing recruitment strategies to engage hard‐to‐reach men who have sex with men living with HIV with unsuppressed viral loads in four US cities: Results from HPTN 078

“…This study cites that relying on RDS prolonged the recruitment process as most participants did not refer future participants and ones who did only referred one participant at most. Additionally, in a 2018 analysis that supplemented random digit dialling with RDS, researchers found that RDS was helpful in increasing numbers of their target population; however, there was not enough time allotted to reach their recruitment goals [28]. They cite their failure to recruit a sufficient number of productive seeds prior to RDS as a part of the reason they did not reach recruitment targets.…”