Recommendations for Recruiting and Retaining Adolescent Girls in Chronic Exercise (Training) Research Studies
School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Eling de Bruin
Sports 2015, 3(3), 219-235; https://doi.org/10.3390/sports3030219
Received: 10 June 2015
/
Revised: 2 August 2015
/
Accepted: 24 August 2015
/
Published: 26 August 2015
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Paediatric Exercise Physiology)
Extensive challenges are often encountered when recruiting participants to chronic exercise (training) studies. High participant burden during chronic exercise training programmes can result in low uptake to and/or poor compliance with the study. The aim of this qualitative study was to identify factors affecting adolescent girls’ recruitment and adherence to chronic exercise training research studies. Twenty-six adolescent girls (aged 12 to 15 years) participated in one of five focus groups discussing recruitment and retention to exercise physiology research involving a chronic exercise training programme. A thematic analysis was used to analyse the data and eight final themes were inductively identified. Seven evidence-based practical recommendations are suggested to improve the recruitment and retention of participants for prospective, chronic exercise training studies. Successful recruitment requires: (i) the defining of exercise-related terms; (ii) appropriate choice of recruitment material; and (iii) an understanding of participant motivations. Retention strategies include: (iv) regular monitoring of participant motives; and (v) small groups which foster peer and researcher support. Finally, (vi) friendship and ability groups were favoured in addition to (vii) a variety of activities to promote adherence to an exercise training programme.
View Full-Text
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
MDPI and ACS Style
Massie, R.; Smith, B.; Tolfrey, K. Recommendations for Recruiting and Retaining Adolescent Girls in Chronic Exercise (Training) Research Studies. Sports 2015, 3, 219-235. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports3030219
AMA Style
Massie R, Smith B, Tolfrey K. Recommendations for Recruiting and Retaining Adolescent Girls in Chronic Exercise (Training) Research Studies. Sports. 2015; 3(3):219-235. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports3030219
Chicago/Turabian StyleMassie, Rachel, Brett Smith, and Keith Tolfrey. 2015. "Recommendations for Recruiting and Retaining Adolescent Girls in Chronic Exercise (Training) Research Studies" Sports 3, no. 3: 219-235. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports3030219
Find Other Styles
