Meeting folks where they are: collecting data from ethnic groups in the community.

Since the Nazi medical experiments in Europe and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in the United States, members of ethnic groups have been reluctant to participate in research. However, a National Institutes of Health policy mandates that researchers develop and implement strategies to insure the inclusion of women and minorities as subjects in clinical investigations. The purpose of this paper is to discuss methods found to be effective in recruiting and retaining members of ethnic groups as participants in three research projects. The three studies were: (a) Gambling Behaviors in African American Elders and Perceived Effects on Health, (b) Adolescent Risk Behavior, Self Esteem, and Social Influence: Comparison of Dominican Youth in Their Homeland and in the United States, and (c) A Multicultural Study of Support for Alzheimer's Caregivers.