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. 2020 Aug 25. Online ahead of print. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2020.08.011

Table 5.

Lessons learned.

Strategy Type Strategy Rationale
General strategies to enhance success of study activities Include active control program in RCT design Provide potential benefits to all participants
Build capacity of partner schools to continue offering programming after the study ends Sustain long-term intervention benefits
Hire staff with experience working with adolescents and/or schools in urban contexts Maximize likelihood that staff will be skilled in interacting with stakeholders and participants
Educate staff regarding local university-community history and context Sensitize staff to issues of structural racism in the study context
Train staff to be friendly and respectful in all interactions with parents, students, and school staff Promote positive research team-community interactions
Strategies to facilitate school recruitment Meet individually with interested principals to assess potential for school partnership in detail
Use a screener or checklist to assess school/partner readiness for collaboration
Realistically assess partnership potential to avoid failed alliances
Reduces the likelihood of schools dropping out right before/during programming
Strategies to facilitate student recruitment Use multiple methods to provide consent forms from parents (i.e., mailings, sending home with child) and send forms multiple times Increase likelihood of parents receiving consent forms even if addresses are not current or parents misplace initial forms
Attempt to follow up with all parents by phone Develop personal connections, with families, maximize likelihood of broad participation across different types of families
Provide parents multiple ways to return signed forms (mailing, child returns to teacher, photograph and text signed form, Adobe sign) Facilitate ease and return speed
Provide pizza party incentive for classrooms in which most parents return a signed (yes or no) permission form Motivate student and parent return of forms in timely manner
Strategies to facilitate follow up survey participation Collect multiple types of contact information for participants (i.e., phone, email, social media handles, multiple parent contacts, two additional contacts, high school name, address) Enhance likelihood of reaching participants at follow up
Use consistent protocol for contacting participants, with detailed log of contact attempts to avoid duplicating prior attempts Maximize efficiency and minimize annoyance to participants
Provide $25 honorarium for completed surveys Enhance student motivation to complete the follow-up survey