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Recruitment & Enrollment

Recruitment & Enrollment

Cumulative Enrollment 2021-2024

Year

Total number of families

Total number of participants

Total number of cohorts

2021

15

36

1

2022

65

210

6

2023

134

421

12

2024

160

497

18

**Note: Values are from December at the end of each year 

Recruitment

This interactive Tableau dashboard shows a map of the number of families recruited by community outreach location, including digital outreach. 

Recruitment text that can be used for papers and/or grant proposals that collaborate with the WCWH Cohort Study

*Note that recruitment location and/or method information was not available for all enrolled families so the total count will be less than noted previously

Text summary for Methods section

Study participants were recruited in several ways, including: recruitment at primary care clinics during well-child visits, in child care centers and schools, at community engagement events hosted by WCWH, and through social media (e.g., facebook groups). Caregivers with children aged 4 and younger will be invited to learn more about a research study and will be provided information via an information session held over zoom or in person, a phone call, or via a video describing the study available on an Ipad or through a link. Potential participants will have the opportunity to have questions answered and if interested can be consented during this meeting or at a subsequent meeting. All recruitment and enrollment information will be provided by a trained staff member of WCWH.

E-mails describing the study and participation will also be sent to interested participants who previously subscribed to the email listserv via the WCWH website or associated social media pages. Other recruitment strategies for this participant pool can be referenced in IRB #201910034. This includes recruitment via phone calls to eligible participants from the potential participant registry. Infographics to depict compensation methods will also be provided to participants who attend the first visit information session.

The study will utilize partnerships with WIC/Nutrition services to share information about the study with families. Information will be shared via SMS text message from WIC to their families and through a Facebook post on the WIC page sharing the study information.

Additional recruitment sites include the Children’s Wellness Center, the Travis County Community Center in Del Valle, Del Valle schools, and the Southeast Health and Wellness Center. Recruitment will take place on-site when possible and recruitment materials including a one-pager, compensation infographic, and a FAQ sheet will be shared.

Families will have the opportunity through these interactions to sign up to be contacted through a Qualtrics survey that will include their contact information and availability for follow-up calls.

 

Text summary for Methods and/or grant proposals regarding recruitment revisions made in 2022

From January 2022 – March 2022, WCWH recruitment plans were revised to expand partnerships and expedite processes for recruitment to enrollment. This included outreach to schools, childcare centers, clinics, and organizations in our study area of East Austin. Initial outreach was with existing contacts of Whole Communities Whole Health that had been made by faculty members and community strategy members who then served as the initial contact to introduce our project. In some cases a proposal and approval process were required to formalize partnerships for on-site recruitment or material distribution on-site. In other cases we would go and present to organizations about our project and write up a letter of support that defined how we would work together. These efforts resulted in partnerships with DVISD, Community Care Clinics, Joyful Child and Little Sprouts childcare centers, the Children’s Wellness Center, and the Travis County Community Center which includes a WIC clinic and food pantry. Additional partnerships were made with Any Baby Can and Austin Public Health that will most likely be used in the future when they have relevant family programming we can offer to participating families. All of these partnerships help foster engagement with potential families but also serve as key points of contact for later research dissemination.

While we were working towards formalizing our recruitment partners we also revised our recruitment and engagement materials we used with families. Before, we would hold hour long information sessions to talk to families about the study – this was turned into a 8-minute video that families could watch on their own time to learn about the study. While we still hold information sessions, the video option has been a good way to get our information out to multiple families without the requirement of scheduling a time that works for multiple people. Lastly, we added Docusign as an option for signing the consent forms, which has made it easier for families to receive, review, and sign consent documents for enrollment.

 

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