Recruiting and retaining couples for an HIV prevention intervention: lessons learned from the PARTNERS project

Intervening with both members of a couple has been recommended as an important strategy for human immunodeficiency virus prevention. Analyses of focus groups and in-depth interviews with project personnel involved in recruitment and retention for the Partners Against Risk-Taking: A Networking and Evaluation Research Study project identified, at the termination of the project, barriers and facilitators to recruiting couples. Barriers included logistical problems of coordinating two people's schedules, sensitivity of the topic and challenges related to recruitment efforts focused on one partner only. Strategies to overcome such barriers were to increase availability of project personnel and recruit both partners simultaneously, with recruitment teams consisting of men and women. Challenges related to recruiting and retaining couples remain significant and should be considered before undertaking couples interventions.