Treatment Outcome Research in Rural Pediatric Populations: The Challenge of Recruitment

Abstract

Strategies to improve recruitment and recommendations for future recruitment efforts in pediatric psychology treatment outcome research for children and families from rural areas are provided.

Barriers Related to Delivering Pediatric Weight Management Interventions to Children and Families From Rural Communities

“…Rural families often travel longer distances (Lim et al, 2011;Pierce & Scherra, 2004) and spend more time commuting for work, school, medical appointments, and recreational activities. Time required to travel may make it difficult for families to juggle children participating in multiple activities.…”

“…The implementation and generalizability of these programs in community settings, and with families from rural areas, has been limited. Downloaded by [University of Auckland Library] at 16:12 13 October 2014 Janicke and colleagues (Janicke et al, 2011;Janicke et al, 2008) examined the effectiveness of behavioral family-based weight management group programs for overweight and obese rural children and their parents delivered through CES. Results from the pilot feasibility study (Janicke et al, 2008) revealed significant changes in weight status at a six-month follow up for both the behavioral family and behavioral parent interventions compared to a wait list control.…”

“…Results from the pilot feasibility study (Janicke et al, 2008) revealed significant changes in weight status at a six-month follow up for both the behavioral family and behavioral parent interventions compared to a wait list control. A larger randomized controlled trial is currently underway examining the effectiveness of three different year-long, family-based weight management interventions (e.g., behavioral family, behavioral parent, and educational family) developed for overweight and obese children and their parents living in rural areas (for a detailed description, see Janicke et al, 2011). Telemedicine techniques have also been used to provide behavioral weight management programs to rural families (Gallagher et al, 2011); however, the outcomes of the randomized controlled trial have not been published.…”

“…The purpose of this paper is to review challenges faced by our team while providing a familybased weight management group intervention to overweight and obese children from rural areas and their parents (for descriptions, see Janicke et al, 2008;Janicke et al, 2011). We start by discussing general barriers related to working with families from rural areas and then move to more specific challenges associated with improving healthy lifestyle behaviors.…”

Perspectives on Engagement Barriers and Alternative Delivery Formats from Non-completers of a Community-Run Parenting Program

“…Other reasons cited by families for dropping from services are attributed to the program and program staff. Specifically, the program’s approach may not be compatible with the family’s needs, the families do not believe the program will be beneficial, or the program staff may come across as too judgmental and/or be seen as outsiders (Gross, Julion, & Fogg, 2001; Ingoldsby, 2010; Lim, Follansbee-Junger, Crawford, & Janicke, 2013). …”