Improving Recruitment and Retention of Female Youth Involved in the Juvenile Justice System: Lessons Learned from the Choices-Teen Study

Background: Adolescent girls involved with the juvenile justice system are an under-served, high-need population. Despite distinct developmental and risk profiles compared with male counterparts, gender-responsive interventions that engage these young women in community settings are limited. High-quality research is necessary to inform these efforts, but recruitment and retention has been a challenge due to the many barriers these youth and families experience. Lessons learned based on recruitment data and experience from a NIH funded randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing the efficacy of the Choices-Teen prevention intervention with girls who are justice-involved can inform future research protocols with this population.

Method: Recruitment efforts in partnership with a large urban probation department, community-based organizations, and a social media recruitment company will be described as they were implemented. Changes in planned recruitment occurred in response to unexpected challenges early on due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in response to lower numbers of girls to engage within a large urban probation program due to evolving programmatic changes to a community-based diversion model. Descriptive statistics will document the frequency of referrals, eligibility screening, eligible youth and enrollment in the study. These numbers will be juxtaposed with the dates of various study efforts to expand and increase recruitment and retention so that visual trends can be inspected.

Results: As this RCT is ongoing, recruitment results presented will reflect any recruitment updates and lessons learned as of January 2026. Initial referrals started in February 2022 from our collaboration with our juvenile probation partnership, and over more than a two-year period (through December 2024) we received 379 referrals and only 42 (11%) were eligible and 20 enrolled. Given low eligibility rates and planned enrollment of 435, our team expanded recruitment with probation community services partners, and a social media recruitment company, yielding an additional 1,284 referrals in a 3.5-month period from January to mid-April 2025. During this short time, an additional 86 (12%) have been eligible and enrollment has increased to 67. Social media has yielded the highest proportion (36%, n=605) of new referrals in this short time, with 20 eligible, enrolled participants. The second highest yield (17%; n= 289) has come from probation referrals at in-person recruitment events or educational settings, yielding 37 eligible and enrolled participants. Common study recruitment barriers included difficulty contacting youth and parents by phone/text for follow-up, confusion about the study, and distrust of research. Efforts to address these barriers included adding a parental incentive, virtual participation in all parts of the study protocol, a fireside chat to discuss study expectations and barriers, access to Spanish speaking staff and materials, and using youth-endorsed recruitment materials and videos.

Implications: Improving the recruitment and retention of justice-involved young women in efficacy trials is essential to providing high quality services. Removing known barriers to research participation, building rapport and early communication about study expectations and barriers has been essential. As probation departments move toward diversion programming, research can adapt by using multiprong probation, community and social media recruitment strategies to effectively meet targeted recruitment goals.