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Recruiting Adolescents into Qualitative Tobacco Research Studies: Experiences and Lessons Learned
Author(s) -
McCormick Laura K.,
Crawford Myra,
Anderson Robert H.,
Gittelsohn Joel,
Kingsley Beverly,
Upson Donna
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/j.1746-1561.1999.tb07215.x
Subject(s) - qualitative research , psychology , tobacco use , medical education , medicine , applied psychology , environmental health , sociology , social science , population
An increasing barrier to the development and implementation of effective youth smoking prevention and cessation programs involves recruiting adolescents into research studies. Even for non‐intervention studies, issues of consent, confidentiality, and motivation to participate are important considerations. In 1996, 11 Prevention Research Center sites across the country conducted qualitative research using focus groups to explore ethnic differences in smoking among adolescents. The diversity in strategies used to interest, motivate, and retain potential focus group subjects provided a rich data set for information about effective strategies and challenges to recruitment. This article presents an overview of recruitment methods used in a multi‐site qualitative study on adolescent tobacco use, reports on successful and less successful strategies, and provides recommendations for future recruitment efforts.