Jennifer Hawes-Dawson, BA¹, Sandra H. Berry, MA¹, Andrea Eden, PhD², Jo Anne Grunbaum, EdD³, Janice Gilliland, PhD², Dale McManis, PhD⁴, and Eliana Turk, MPH, MD⁴. (1) UCLA/RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion, 1700 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138, 310-393-0411, hawes@rand.org, (2) Center for Advancement of Youth Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 912 18th Steet South, Building 912, Birmingham, AL 35294-1200, (3) Division of Adolescent and School Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, Mailstop K-33, Atlanta, GA 30341, (4) University of Texas, Houston, 7000 Fannin Street, Houston, TX 77030

Healthy Passages is a community-based longitudinal study about factors that influence disparities in health behaviors, health outcomes, and educational and social outcomes among youth. The study will enroll a fifth grade cohort and conduct home-based assessments biennially. Enrollment of students for the Healthy Passages pilot study was impacted by a new trend in school-based research that made it more challenging to provide study information to families -- schools would not provide researchers with parent (or student) names or contact information without written parental approval. Previously, schools provided researchers with directory information enabling researchers to contact directly potential study participants via multiple communication channels to maximize response rates. Current practice requires recruitment in 2 parts – first, schools are used to obtain written consent from parents to allow researchers to contact them and then, if parents agree to be contacted, researchers contact them to enroll their child into the study. While the effect of active parental consent on study outcomes (response rates, schedules, and costs) and strategies to avoid problems have been identified, previous studies are based on direct parental contact by researchers. No studies to date provide information on how to maximize response rates with 2-part recruitment. This paper describes our experiences with 21 schools in Birmingham, Alabama; Houston, Texas; and Los Angeles, California to recruit fifth grade students and their parents to the Healthy Passages pilot study. We describe our 2-part parental contact and recruitment method, the impact of school factors on recruitment, and response rates, and provide recommendations for future recruitment efforts.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participants will be able to

• Describe the major impact of privacy-related and active parental consent on study outcomes (response rates, schedules, costs).
• Articulate promising strategies to avoid or minimize problems commonly associated with active consent.
• Develop an effective study protocol to maximize response rates on future school-based studies when active parental consent is required.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: The work is being carried by the following institutions: University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)/RAND Corporation; University of Alabama at Birmingham; University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; and the CDC.
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.