NCJ Number
189772
Journal
Journal of Family Violence Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: September 2001 Pages: 219-236
Date Published
September 2001
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article examines the results of strategies used in recruiting participants for child abuse research.
Abstract
Recruiting participants for child abuse research and tracking them over time require extensive efforts and perseverance. This longitudinal study consisted of a group of school-aged abused children and their mothers and a matched comparison group of nonabused children and their mothers. Mothers and children were interviewed at two points in time, one year apart. Results showed that consent rates were lower for abusing families than for nonabusing comparison families. Among abusing families, those in the sexual abuse group were more difficult to recruit than those in the physical abuse or neglect groups. Even after obtaining consent, successfully completing interviews required persistence, particularly for the abuse group. Efforts to maintain contact with respondents during the one-year interval between interviews helped ensure the success of follow-up. Despite these intensive efforts, tracking families who experienced frequent moves was problematic. Most of the participants lost to follow-up moved with no forwarding address. Some moved out of the study area and thus could not be interviewed. Reasons for attrition for mothers and children were sometimes different because of different living situations. If children changed residences but remained in the same school, they were usually still accessible, but mothers often moved with no forwarding address. In spite of all this, retention over time was highly successful as a result of considerable efforts to maintain contact with respondents. The publication of more detailed information about the process of recruiting participants and collecting data would help investigators plan and implement better study designs. 1 figure, 2 tables, and 23 references.