Recruitment outcomes, challenges and lessons learned: the Healthy Communities Study

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Community Health

Background:

• The Healthy Communities Study (HCS) was a national initiative designed to investigate community programs and policies targeting childhood obesity.
• The study required recruiting a substantial number of children from diverse communities across the United States.

Purpose of the Study:

• To recruit an average of 45 children and 12 key informants from at least 120 diverse US communities.
• To assess the intensity of community programs and policies aimed at addressing childhood obesity, considering variations in region, urbanicity, socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity.

Main Methods:

• Wave 1: Utilized purchased address lists for household recruitment.
• Wave 2: Employed school-based recruitment strategies to reach families.

Main Results:

• Successfully gained approval from 149 school districts and 478 schools, encompassing 130 communities.
• Recruited 5138 families and interviewed 1421 key informants.
• Enabled characterization of the intensity of obesity prevention and treatment efforts within each community.

Conclusions:

• Lessons learned from the recruitment process are presented.
• Future studies should incorporate literature review, formative research, pilot testing, and continuous monitoring into recruitment strategy development.