Lessons Learned in Clinical Research Recruitment of Midlife Latinas During COVID-19.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this brief report is to describe lessons learned in recruiting and enrolling midlife Latinas in a pilot study to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk during the menopause transition. We also discuss strategies implemented to overcome the challenges presented by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. METHODS: Menopausia, Salud y Corazo´n is a two-group (intervention, waitlist control), repeated measures study. The intervention consists of CVD risk education, coping skills training, physical activity, and stress management. Eligible participants are peri- and early postmenopausal Latinas age 40 to 60 years, free of CVD. From August 2020 to October 2021, we screened 110 women recruited from cultural events and health fairs (n = 56), local businesses (n = 24), and snowball sampling (n = 30). Of these, 60 were eligible for inclusion and 41 enrolled. RESULTS: Strategies that contributed to successful recruitment included: a primarily Latina bilingual (English, Spanish) research team; flexibility with location and scheduling of data collection; and multiple modes of communication (ie, mailings, phone calls, and text messages). Additionally, we addressed Latino cultural values such as respeto (respect), familismo (loyalty to family), and confianza (trust). In response to COVID-19, we included virtual recruitment strategies, limited in-person visits, and distributed community resources for COVID-19. CONCLUSION: We have found that despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, midlife Latinas are receptive to clinical research engagement. Researcher flexibility, multiple recruitment modalities, a bilingual research team, and communication strategies that address cultural values are essential elements for the representation of midlife Latinas in research.

Impact of COVID-19: A Text Mining Analysis of Twitter Data in Spanish Language.

BACKGROUND: Latino communities in the United States and Latin America are disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed information shared on Twitter in Spanish language for insights into the public's communication and information needs about the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We performed a mixed-methods analysis using a text mining approach. We used SAS Text Miner, an algorithmic-driven statistical program to capture 10,000 tweets posted between June 3, 2020, and June 10, 2020. We used the following search terms to capture relevant Twitter messages in Spanish language: "coronavirus," "covid-19," "corona," and the hash tags "#COVID19" and "#Coronavirus." Key text topics were identified and categorized into themes using an emergent content analysis. RESULTS: We identified 12 text topics and six themes: (1) prevention measures, (2) epidemiology/surveillance, (3) economic impact, (4) optimizing nursing workforce, (5) access to reliable information, and (6) call for a response from the local government. Top trending hashtags from our search included #COVID19 (n = 7,098), #Coronavirus (n = 6,394), and #SNTESALUD (n = 2,598). CONCLUSIONS: Spanish-language Tweets related to the COVID-19 pandemic contained information from health departments and labor unions on the surveillance, prevention, and impact of COVID-19. Public health officials should consider increasing their use of Twitter to ensure a wide dissemination of messages about COVID-19 in Spanish outlets.