Increasing participation in prevention research: strategies for youths, parents, and schools.

TOPIC: Subject participation is a critical concern for clinicians and researchers involved in prevention programs, especially for intensive interventions that require randomized assignment and lengthy youth and parent involvement.
PURPOSE: This article describes details of an integrated approach used to recruit and retain at-risk high school youths, their parents, and high schools to two different comprehensive, "indicated" prevention programs. SOURCES USED: Parent and youth recruitment and retention data for the two studies is provided in support of the approach described. A coordinated, multilevel approach, organized around cross-cutting issues, is described in detail as a response to the challenges of including vulnerable populations in intervention research.
CONCLUSION: Methods are relevant to nurse clinicians who deliver prevention programs, and are important to clinical research that relies upon adequate participation in research programs.