Recruiting African American girls and parents for a secondary weight gain prevention study

This research report describes the process and results of recruiting African American adolescent girls and parents for a secondary weight gain prevention study. We sought to recruit 60 girls with equal representation of at-risk for overweight (BMI percentile 85-95) and overweight (BMI > 95th percentile), and at least one obese (BMI > 30 kg/m2) parent. A personal and individual recruitment approach was the sole method utilized for recruitment of participants into this two-year Internet-based study targeting weight gain prevention. Participants were randomized to either an interactive behavioral condition or a health-based education (control) condition. Fifty-seven African American adolescent girls and their parents were enrolled in the study conducted at a university-based nutrition research center. One hundred eight adolescent girls volunteered and met the study criteria on the first contact, 95 interviewed in the clinic, 64 were randomized, and 57 (89%) of those randomized began the study. Seven percent of the study sample was comprised of African American girls at-risk for overweight, while the majority (93%) of those enrolled were overweight (BMI > 95th percentile). Our study sample comprised an imbalanced number of overweight versus at-risk for overweight African American girls suggesting that perhaps a clinic-based secondary weight gain prevention study may be an inefficient and ineffective setting for recruiting this population. Although we were successful in recruiting a majority of overweight girls, we conclude that the imbalance in the number of participants recruited is likely related to the sociocultural environment that predisposes African American girls to obesity and a lack of awareness by the parents' of the consequences of being overweight.