Recruiting Adolescents from Medicaid Enrollment Files into a Neighborhood Oral Health Study.

introductionStrategies are needed to improve recruitment of low-income adolescents into oral health studies.

objectivesIn this study, we assessed the feasibility of recruiting Medicaid-enrolled adolescents into a neighborhood-level oral health study using Medicaid enrollment files and to evaluate the degree of bias in the final recruited study population.

methodsWe obtained Medicaid enrollment files from the Oregon Health Authority for 15,440 Medicaid enrollees aged 12 to 17 y from Multnomah, Hood River, and Tillamook counties. We attempted to contact the primary caregiver of each adolescent by telephone, and we tracked contact, recruitment, enrollment, and study completion rates. We further assessed if these rates were different across county-level rurality, neighborhood-level income, and caregiver-level language preference (Spanish vs. English). The Pearson chi-square test was used to compare rates (α = 0.05). We contacted 6,202 caregivers (40.2%), recruited 738 adolescents (11.9%), enrolled 335 (45.4%), and had complete data for 284 (84.8%). The overall enrollment yield from contacted caregivers was 5.4%. Contact rates did not differ significantly by rurality ( RESULTS AND

conclusionsIt is feasible to recruit Medicaid-enrolled adolescents into a neighborhood oral health study through the use of Medicaid files. County-, neighborhood-, and caregiver-level factors may influence characteristics of the final study population. Additional research is needed to improve recruitment of Medicaid enrollees into neighborhood oral health studies. KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER STATEMENT: Researchers can use the results of this study to plan neighborhood-level oral health studies involving recruitment of low-income adolescents. Findings further underscore the importance of assessing factors related to recruitment to evaluate participant bias and the generalizability of study findings.