ENGAGING LOW-RESOURCED FAMILIES IN ADOLESCENT WELLNESS INTERVENTION RESEARCH USING FMRI

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify facilitators and barriers for engaging low-resource, urban families in adolescent weight management intervention research using innovative technology, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Adolescent obesity continues to be a serious concern in the US, placing young people at risk for conditions with lifelong consequences. Adolescent behavior change takes place within the family and broader community context, but low-resourced, minority families are a hard-to-reach research population. As researchers move to more high-tech and invasive research approaches, minority groups may become less involved, heightening their risk for poor health outcomes (e.g., obesity) and limiting knowledge about effective interventions to promote wellness in these communities. With these points in mind, interesting questions to consider are: 1) How can we increase the research participation of these hard-to-reach adolescents and families?; and 2) How can we make weight management intervention research more appealing and accessible to those who are hardly-reached, increasing our capacity to promote wellness for this population? Methods: This study used a community-engaged research framework to involve community stakeholders in designing research approaches. A focus group study design was used to conduct 7 focus groups and 2 interviews with 50 participants. Participants were recruited from four stakeholder groups: adolescents, parents, school nurses, community agency workers. Data were transcribed from the audio recordings and text data were managed using Atlas.ti 8 software. Thematic analysis triangulated findings across the stakeholder groups. Results: Key focus group findings were used to create a set of community-informed guidelines for the engagement of low-resource, urban families in adolescent weight management intervention research using high-tech research methods. These guidelines reflect community-engaged research approaches, identifying specific techniques to promote facilitators and address barriers to low-resource families' participation in high-tech, wellness-focused research. Focus group results informed the development of a Community Advisory Committee to guide future health research with low-resource, urban adolescents and families. Conclusions: Community members were engaged to design research approaches appropriate for low-resource, urban families. A set of guidelines were developed to uniquely ad