Objective: This article focuses on the recruitment process undertaken to secure participants for two breast cancer prevention education studies. However, several challenges impede engaging Spanish-speaking Latinas in research. To improve comprehension of consent documents, we recommend restructuring them as educational materials that adhere to current health literacy guidelines.Ī pressing need exists to include Latinas in cancer prevention research and to promote the value of early screening to prevent breast cancer. We also assessed consent forms and Institutional Review Board policies for endorsement of community-based participatory principles, finding that very few acknowledged or adhered to such principles.
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Although these documents were deemed suitable as medical forms, their readability levels were inappropriate, and they were unsuitable for educating potential participants about research purposes. We assessed the reading level of consent documents and obtained global measures of their health literacy demand by using the Suitability and Comprehensibility Assessment of Materials instrument.
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To inform recommendations for an improved consent process, we examined 97 consent documents and 10 associated Institutional Review Board websites to determine their health literacy demands and degree of adherence to principles of community-based research. These barriers are associated with limited health literacy. Relevant barriers to participation include lack of individual or community awareness or acceptance of research processes and purposes. One way to improve minority representation is to use community-based participatory methods to overcome barriers to research participation, beginning with the informed consent process. Minority populations with health disparities are underrepresented in research designed to address those disparities. Enhanced participant recruitment assists in assessment of population-unique conditions and targeted interventions leading to disease prevention and improved outcomes. Discussion: Application of EERC guidelines facilitates recruitment of minority populations. Results: Successful recruitment of 62 immigrant Hispanic mothers (approximately 82% of target goal) was accomplished through implementation of most of EERC criteria (90%) in planning and recruitment phases of the study. A systematic categorical process was used to determine if each of the guidelines’ key concepts were incorporated in the recruitment process. Methodology: Retrospective application of the EERC guidelines assessed using data extracted from the researcher-study recruitment field notes. The purpose of this article is to illustrate application of the EERC (evaluate, engage, reflect, and carefully match) guidelines in facilitating participant recruitment in a study exploring infant feeding practices of Hispanic mothers. Introduction: Innovative and culturally sensitive strategies are needed to promote research participation among minorities and develop targeted interventions aimed at decreasing health disparities. Personal assistance can also be offered in the form of direct advocacy, tangible aid, and counseling (Brown et al., 2000 Browner & Preloran, 2006 Larkey et al., 2002), an approach that is likely to be more effective than simply providing a list of referrals and is consistent with advocacy approaches used by community-based intimate partner violence researchers in the past (Sullivan, 2003 Sullivan & Bybee, 1999). Monetary or gift incentives may also encourage participation and serve as a sign of appreciation, although care should be taken to offer incentives that do not require undocumented immigrants to reveal their identity (Brown et al., 2000 Umana-Taylor & Bamaca, 2004). Suggestions for enabling participation by low-income Latinas, in particular, include the provision of services such as childcare and transportation which may be essential for women who have little time or resources for participating in research (Larkey et al., 2002 Lee et al., 1997 Madriz, 1998 Ramos-Lira et al., 1999 Umana-Taylor & Bamaca, 2004).