38 ¿Gustaría participar? - Recruitment of Spanish-speaking families for a pediatric neuropsychology study in North Texas

Abstract

Objective:

Hispanics account for approximately 19% of the US population and are the second largest ethnic group in the United States, yet they remain underrepresented in neuropsychology research. Common recruitment barriers include language, fear/mistrust, and unfamiliarity with neuropsychology. These recruitment challenges then interfere with the development of measures normed on Spanish-speaking Hispanics. The research team for a Spanish-based neuropsychological study at a pediatric medical setting in North Texas utilized several methods to maximize recruitment of Hispanics and identify the most successful strategies. It was hypothesized that internal recruitment efforts would have the best outcome.

Participants and Methods:

Recruitment of healthy Spanish-speaking children between 6.0 and 17.11 years old began in October 2021 and continues to date. Participants have been recruited within the Dallas Fort-Worth (DFW) metroplex using internal efforts within the pediatric medical center and external efforts in the community-at-large. Internal recruitment efforts have included: 1) setting up flyers at 19 different ambulatory clinics, 2) emailing study flyer to several internal groups, and 3) sharing information during a Hispanic workgroup meeting. Community-based efforts have included collaborating with: 1) a Spanishimmersion private elementary school (i.e., shared information with parents via email and sent flyers home with students), 2) three mental health colleagues (i.e., displayed study flyers within their clinic space and promoted study through word-of-mouth), 3) a local city council (i.e., featured flyer in electronic newsletter), and 4) a non-profit community organization (i.e., shared information and flyer through mass-text messages, social media post, and mass email to subscribers).

Results:

To date, 74 parent-child pairs have made one-time contact with the research team to inquire about the study and 55 have completed a second contact with initial screener by phone (19 lost to follow up). Of the screened families, 58% heard of the study through the non-profit organization, 31% through the Spanish-immersion private school, and 11% from internal recruitment efforts.

Conclusions:

Although we hypothesized that internal -based recruitment within the medical institution would be most fruitful, our findings did not support this hypothesis. A possible explanation could be that children recruited from medical clinics may not meet criteria for participation in our study (i.e., healthy children). Another possible reason may be that flyer-based recruitment in a medical clinic is too passive or impersonal. Recruitment through community organizations with sources known and trusted by participants was found to be the most successful method to recruit potential participants. Considering these findings, our approach to recruitment will move away from passive and indirect methods of recruitment (i.e., flyers in clinics) and emphasize alliance with community-based organizations to promote trust building and collaborative relationships between researchers, community organizations, and Hispanic research participants.