326 Arriving at strategies to recruit and retain adolescents and young adults (AYAs) in research: A mixed-methods approach

Abstract

Objectives/Goals: Research participation by adolescents and young adults (AYAs) is critical for advancing therapeutic interventions applicable across the life course. Identifying effective strategies to recruit and retain AYAs is challenging. This poster elucidates the process and outcomes of working with an AYA Health Research Board and surveying AYAs. Methods/Study Population: The AYA Health Research Board established in 2022 as part of an AYA Program within the UC Davis (UCD) Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC). The Board is composed of youth advisers, ages 13–39, from across CA. In 2023, the Program supplemented insights from the board with a national online survey of AYAs using the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) platform. Two separate instruments were administered, one on recruitment and another on retention, each with over 400 responses. The UCD AYA Board was then engaged to provide crucial insights contextualizing the survey findings, ensuring their relevance and applicability to the AYA population. Results/Anticipated Results: Overall, survey results indicate that AYAs are aware of health studies and clinical trials. Responses affirm that incentives are the biggest driver of AYA participation, while side effects were identified as the biggest reason to drop out of a study. Overall, youth appear more interested in participating in online studies versus those that require in-person appearances. Text messages, regular updates, and sharing of study results were identified as strategies to maintain participant engagement. Additional results will be available through a one-page factsheet for researchers to use as they think about retention and recruitment of AYAs. Discussion/Significance of Impact: Survey results will be made available to health researchers to help move the needle on recruitment and retention efforts of AYAs. This mixed-methods case study serves as an example of the impact AYAs can have on shaping research and validating survey findings.