Dealing with diversity: Recruiting churches and women for a randomized trial of mammography promotion

There is little documentation about the recruitment process for church-base d health education programs. In this study, the authors recruit African Ame rican, Latino, and white churches and women members (age 50 to 80) for a ra ndomized church-based trial of mammography promotion in Los Angeles County. Efforts to enhance recruitment began 10 months before churches were invite d to participate and included a variety of community-based strategies. Subs equently, 45 churches were recruited over a 5-month period through group pa stor breakfast meetings and church-specific follow-up. In close collaborati on with the 45 churches, the authors administered church-based surveys over 6 months and identified 1,967 age-eligible women who agreed to be contacte d by the program team. It was found that an extended resource intensive per iod of relationship-building and community-based activities were necessary to conduct church-based programs effectively, particularly among older and ethnically diverse urban populations.