1. Gatekeepers and gift baskets: Recruiting vulnerable populations
Julie Barroso, PhD, ANP, RN, FAAN
Professor and Dept. Chair

2. Women with HIV infection
Very hard to reach population, especially in the Deep South, where the confluence of cultural values and history make those with HIV feel particularly stigmatized
All of my recruiting for studies has been community based

3. There’s always the usual stuff...
If you need vulnerable women to come someplace to participate in your study, you need to provide:
Bus passes/parking passes
Remuneration for their time and travel
Child care
Something to eat and drink

4. You must become known in the community as a good person who is doing research to help others
If people think you are just doing research to climb higher in the ivory tower, you will not be able to recruit participants for your studies
It also helps if you are involved in the community in other ways

5. You must know your population first – Where do they get care
You must know your population first – Where do they get care? Are there social services agencies that serve them? Where do they socialize?
Then go to those places and meet people
Wear your street clothes, and bring copies of your best articles
Go to the clinics, food banks, AIDS service organizations

6. Get there about 30 minutes earlier and offer to simply wait
Then sit there and OBSERVE...
Who is the real gatekeeper?
In most clinics it is NOT the providers
It is usually those people working at the front desk
So those are the people you must convince to hand out your flyers/make them available

7. Once you are ushered back to the titular gatekeeper, keep it brief:
Explain what you will be studying
What you need them to do for you
Be clear about what you do NOT need
Thank them profusely

8. Be sure to thank the people at the front desk on the way out and tell them you will come back in a couple of weeks to see if they need more flyers
Then go back, with some nice treat for the front desk people: Bath and Body Works gift bags, cookies, etc.
Yes, I know you can’t charge these to a grant

9. The gatekeepers will often help you out in remarkable ways
Letting people use their phones to call you about your study
Calling you themselves to tell you about someone who is homeless, who would be a perfect person for your study, and you can use one of their exam rooms to gather data

10. BUT...the most important things you can do
Be nice to your participants
Do everything you can to maintain confidentiality
Be organized, on time, fully present, with their remuneration
Explain how you will follow up with them
Discuss what you will do with your results
All of this will encourage them to go back to the clinics and tell the staff about your study and that participating in it was a good thing to do

11. Places other than clinics
Go visit them yourself; don’t send your research assistant
Take supplies to post flyers: push pins, page protectors, etc.
Your flyers may need to go on a bulletin board, in a notebook, etc.; be prepared for several scenarios

12. When you have your data analyzed...
Go back to each of your recruitment sites (those that referred participants to you) and present the findings
Ask about doing it early and bring breakfast, or at lunchtime and bring lunch
Yes, I know you can’t pay for this with your grant money
But this means so much to the people who got you your participants

13. We also notify the women that we recruited from a site when we will be presenting the data there, and invite them to come
I am always amazed at how emotional everyone becomes when they see the data
It means a lot to them that we would come back
We treat everyone with loving kindness

14. I have personally met every research participant I have ever had, to thank them for helping out
People talk, and how you have treated them will become known in that community, especially if it is a vulnerable group
It makes future recruitment so much easier

15. Final thoughts Never burn bridges Be nice to people
You will need these folks over and over again, as you start new studies and need participants
Keep trying!