Increasing participation in prevention research: strategies for youths, parents, and schools

Subject participation is a critical concern for clinicians and researchers involved in prevention programs, especially for intensive interventions that require randomized assignment and lengthy youth and parent involvement.

This article describes details of an integrated approach used to recruit and retain at-risk high school youths, their parents, and high schools to two different comprehensive, "indicated" prevention programs.

Parent and youth recruitment and retention data for the two studies is provided in support of the approach described. A coordinated, multilevel approach, organized around cross-cutting issues, is described in detail as a response to the challenges of including vulnerable populations in intervention research.

Methods are relevant to nurse clinicians who deliver prevention programs, and are important to clinical research that relies upon adequate participation in research programs.