Culturally Competent Strategies for Recruitment and Retention of African American Populations into Clinical Trials

To identify successful recruitment strategies, challenges, and best practices for researchers to engage African American communities in clinical studies, researchers reviewed studies conducted from 2001 to 2012 at an inner-city research center. They contacted the study coordinators to obtain data on recruitment and retention strategies, challenges, and dropout rates, and also interviewed 25 study coordinators on challenges and strategies. Successful recruitment and retention strategies included field-based strategy and snowballing. Major barriers were distrust, compensation, education disadvantage, lack of interest, and inability to have a study partner. Strategies to reduce barriers included providing informational sessions and disseminating newsletters about study outcomes. Best practices included being culturally sensitive, demonstrating a caring attitude, and being responsive to participants’ needs.

Otado J, Kwagyan J, Edwards D, et al. Culturally competent strategies for recruitment and retention of African American populations into clinical trials. Clinical and Translation Science 2015;8(5):460-466.