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Recruitment and retention of emerging adults in lifestyle interventions: Findings from the REACH trial
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Recruitment and retention of emerging adults in lifestyle interventions: Findings from the REACH trial

Jessica Gokee LaRose, Jean M. Reading, Autumn Lanoye and Kristal Lyn Brown
Contemporary clinical trials, v 121, 106904
01 Oct 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cct.2022.106904
PMID: 36055582
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
http://manuscript.elsevier.com/S1551714422002300/pdf/S1551714422002300.pdfView
Accepted (AM)Open Access (Publisher-Specific),  Open

Abstract

Emerging adults Lifestyle intervention Participant recruitment Participant retention Weight loss
Emerging adulthood (EA) is a critical time to promote cardiometabolic health, but EAs are underrepresented in lifestyle intervention trials. Knowledge gaps exist regarding how best to recruit and retain socio-demographically diverse EAs. Our goal was to begin to address these gaps using data from the Richmond Emerging Adults Choosing Health (REACH) Trial. REACH was a comparative efficacy trial for EAs, age 18–25, with a body mass index of 25-45 kg/m2. Enrollment goals were: N = 381, ≥40% underrepresented race/ethnicity, ≥30% men, ≥85% retention at 6 months. We translated formative work into a recruitment and retention plan, examined yield for recruitment and retention overall, and by gender and race/ethnicity, as well as cost data. Descriptive statistics and chi square tests were used. Enrollment benchmarks were met overall (N = 382) and for participants from underrepresented race/ethnic backgrounds (58.0%), but not men (17.3%). The most common recruitment sources were email (26.9%), radio (22.2%), and online radio (15.4%); this pattern largely held true across gender and race/ethnic groups, though word of mouth and participant referral together accounted for nearly a quarter of enrolled men. Costs averaged $155 per randomized participant. Retention was 89% at 3-months, 84% at 6-months (primary endpoint) and 80% at 12-months (follow-up), with no significant differences by gender or race/ethnicity (all p's > 0.05). Retention did not differ by recruitment method (p = .69). Grounding our approach in formative data and embracing participants as partners in research contributed to the recruitment and retention of socio-demographically diverse EAs. Additional efforts are needed to enroll EA men.

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8 Record Views
6 citations in Web of Science
6 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
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