Recruitment to a school-based adult smoking-cessation program: do gender and race/ethnicity make a difference?

Recruitment to interventional research, clinical trials, and community-based health programs remains a central public health challenge, particularly among low-income and multi-ethnic populations. Utilizing existing community institutions and "opportunistic" communication channels within these settings for recruitment seems an optimal strategy for overcoming barriers to participation. However, such institutions frequently serve heterogeneous populations, and little is known regarding intra-community variations in program uptake.

This paper reports the gender and race/ethnic differences in subject characteristics and enrollment patterns among 435 Latino and African American participants in a smoking-cessation program delivered through one such community institution, an inner-city school district in Los Angeles County.

Enrollees were more likely to be female and Latino. Recruitment strategies tailored specifically to this program were more effective then recruitment through channels such as regular school activities, particularly among African Americans.

Intragroup variations need to be carefully considered in the design and implementation of such programs if they are to receive acceptance and to succeed.