Recruiting Chinese Participants into an End-of-Life Care Research: Strategies and Outcomes

Problem

Undertaking end of life (EoL) research faces many challenges from study design to recruitment, particularly studies involving ethnic minority groups. Chinese people have specific beliefs and attitudes towards death and dying, which may affect the delivery of EoL care and participation in research.

Here we describe strategies used to recruit Chinese participants to an EOL study in community settings in England.

Approach

Methods of publicising the study included posters displayed in the areas with high density of Chinese population, working with community organisations, and word of mouth using social networks. A ‘same as them’ approach was employed to build trusting relationships, reach participants, and collect sufficient data. The success of recruitment approaches was assessed based on number of participants approached and consented.

Findings

Between September 2020 and December 2020, we successfully recruited 53 participants. Of these 37 (69.8%) were recruited through work with community organisations, which mainly recruited from London, Manchester and Liverpool. 16 (30.1%) through word of mouth using social networks, which mostly recruited from West Midlands. The poster display approach was not effective in the study.

Use of multiple culturally relevant strategies (e.g., building trusting relationships through enrolment, use of bilingual researcher, support from gatekeepers of community organisations, and employing linguistically appropriate materials) was crucial to recruitment. Our “same as them” approach of recruitment was another important factor contributing to our successful recruitment.

Consequences

A range of strategies and substantial effort was required for successful recruitment into a study of Chinese caregivers in EOL care. The applied strategies may be applicable to the more widespread issue of recruitment and retention of Chinese participants in research.