# Improving Diversity, Inclusion, and Retention in BackinAction/AcuOA

> **NIH NIH UH3** · KAISER FOUNDATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE · 2021 · $535,854

## Abstract

SUMMARY
It is estimated that less than one-third of clinical trials recruit their target sample size within the originally
predicted time frame and that research participants who complete a clinical trial are more likely to be male,
younger, have higher incomes, and be more educated. For clinical trials working with underserved and Black,
Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, there are additional challenges tied to maintaining
contact with participants whose lives may include more transience and practical barriers such as transportation
barriers, lack of childcare, competing priorities, etc. Further no study known has specifically examined
mechanisms for improving recruitment and retention, let alone a process that further assures diversity in the
patient sample, for clinical trials of CIH. Enhancement to the current funded UH3 include the development and
utilization of a diversity in recruitment and retention (DRR) advisory board that includes patients with previous
integrative medicine clinical trial experience, clinicians with integrative medicine experience, and clinicians who
have minimal integrative medicine experience. In addition this supplement adds a recruitment and retention
specialist who will coordinate this advisory board and implement the activities to meet its three aims. Through
the utilization of both a recruitment and retention specialist and a patient and caregiver Diversity, Recruitment,
and Retention (DRR) Advisory Board, our proposed study design will provide both evidence-based recruitment
tools and important information about the risk factors associated with loss to follow-up. We will also implement
a model that addresses these issues in real-time to ensure the larger study's success. We will engage in
structured interviews with patients who select to not engage in the primary study and those who fall at risk of
dropping out. In addition, we propose to conduct secondary data analyses of the socio-economic and health
care utilization factors that contribute to patients selecting and completing a clinical integrative medicine trial.
Primary outcomes of this supplement study include the development of model recruitment and retention tools
and an empirical understanding of the barriers and factors contributing to recruitment, loss to follow up and
successful completion of a clinical trial such as primary HEAL study. This study will be among the first to
carefully examine the nature of CIH clinical trial participants. These findings will be germane to the
conceptualization and implementation of future integrative medicine trials and will have a broader utility for
future clinical research seeking to recruit and retain more diverse participants.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10400307
- **Project number:** 3UH3AT010739-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** KAISER FOUNDATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE
- **Principal Investigator:** LYNN L. DeBar
- **Activity code:** UH3 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $535,854
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-09-28 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10400307

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10400307, Improving Diversity, Inclusion, and Retention in BackinAction/AcuOA (3UH3AT010739-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10400307. Licensed CC0.

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