Abstracts

Rationale: There are approximately 637,000 African Americans (AA) adults currently living with epilepsy or seizure disorder. Recruiting and engaging AA people with epilepsy (PWE) can be challenging. Participants in epilepsy studies are primarily recruited in clinical settings; however, AA are less likely to obtain care from epilepsy specialists. Consequently, the Project UPLIFT research team sought to recruit participants using traditional and non-traditional methods in order to enhance recruitment efforts. Methods: Recruitment of AA PWE was conducted from 2016 through 2018. Participants were recruited using in-person and online methods (e.g., clinic settings, community events, Facebook, and Instagram). Data analysis was performed to identify sources through which AA PWE were enrolled in the study. Results: Of the 112 AA PWE enrolled into the study, the majority were recruited from a clinical setting (75.0%). The proportions of participants recruited from other sources were: community events (20.0%), staff referral (4.5%), and social media campaigns (0%). While traditional clinical settings remained best for recruitment, newer methods such as social media campaigns were least successful. Conclusions: Recruitment of AA PWE remains challenging. Although community events and social media campaigns were anticipated to be more successful, traditional recruitment from clinic settings was found to be more advantageous. Having a clinical staff (i.e., physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses) that are supportive and familiar with the study was an important key for success. Given what is known about AA PWE access to health care, it is imperative that we begin to identify additional sources for recruitment if we are to increase AA PWE participation in research studies. Funding: CDC #U48DP005042 (SIP 14-007)