Researchers examined how to better include children and parents in medical studies. They looked at 23 different studies that involved 5,482 participants ranging from infants to young adults. The goal was to see which methods helped researchers get a more diverse group of people to join and stay in the research.
The analysis showed that community-based recruitment strategies were the most effective for engaging underrepresented groups. For keeping participants in the study, flexible scheduling, family services, and monetary compensation were successful across different populations. Specifically, family services and flexible scheduling worked well for parents and young children, while adolescents responded better to monetary compensation and group-oriented efforts.
No safety concerns were reported because these studies focused on research methods rather than medical treatments. The main reason to be careful is that this is a review of past studies, not a new experiment. Readers should take away that tailoring recruitment and retention strategies to cultural, social, and logistical needs is essential for ensuring diversity in pediatric research.