Recruiting American Indian women for a genetic epidemiology study

Abstract

Due to previous negative experiences, some American Indian communities are distrustful of research in general and genetic research in particular. The Turtle Mountain Community College was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant with 3 aims: (1) to study possible genetic influences on pre-eclampsia, (2) to encourage tribal college students to consider biomedical careers and (3) to develop the local research infrastructure. Retrospectively identified case (91) and control (188) participants were recruited into Phase I over a 3-year period and additional participants (71) were concurrently recruited from a prenatal clinic into a prospective case/control study, Phase II. This paper describes some of the challenges and solutions we encountered in the process of recruiting American Indian participants into a genetic epidemiologic study. Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.