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The Role of Iterative Participant Engagement Strategies and Operational Flexibility in Longitudinal Studies in Urban Communities of Color: Lessons from the PARCS Study
Emily B Ferris;
Katarzyna Wyka;
Kelly R. Evenson;
Joan M Dorn;
Lorna Thorpe;
Diane Catellier;
Terry T.-K. Huang
ABSTRACT
Longitudinal, natural experiments provide an ideal evaluation approach to better understand the impact of built environment interventions on community health outcomes, particularly heath disparities. As there are many recruitment and retention challenges inherent to the design of longitudinal, natural experiments, adaptive and iterative recruitment and retention strategies are critical to the success of a study. This paper documents lessons learned from the Physical Activity and Redesigned Community Spaces (PARCS) Study. The PARCS Study, while ongoing, has developed several approaches to improve the recruitment and retention protocols by prioritizing the following four dimensions: 1) building trust with communities; 2) adapting the study protocol to meet participants’ needs and to reflect their capacity for participation; 3) operational flexibility; and 4) measurement and evaluation systems. These strategies may help researchers more successfully recruit and retain participants, particularly in low-income, minority neighborhoods, into longitudinal studies.