Centering Community Engagement in a Hypertension Clinical Trial: Strategies to Engage Rural Black Patients in the Southeastern Collaboration to Improve Blood Pressure Control

Black Americans residing in rural communities are often excluded from clinical trials for hypertension, despite having a high prevalence of the disease and frequent complications. This report describes our research team's experience to support recruitment and retention of rural Black patients with uncontrolled hypertension in the southeastern United States in a cluster-randomized clinical trial. While the focus of this report is on enrollment and engagement, the strategies employed were grounded in long-standing community-engaged research efforts and guided by principles of trust-building, transparency, and shared leadership. We share the challenges encountered and reflect on lessons learned to inform future approaches that authentically engage historically excluded and under-represented communities as active partners in research.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
Published
2025-12-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-025-02774-2
Primary Topic
Community Health and Development
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Centering Community Engagement in a Hypertension Clinical Trial: Strategies to Engage Rural Black Patients in the Southeastern Collaboration to Improve Blood Pressure Control

Suzanne Oparil, Orysya Soroka, Doyle M. Cummings, Erica L. Richman et al.
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
Community Health and Development
article

Centering Community Engagement in a Hypertension Clinical Trial: Strategies to Engage Rural Black Patients in the Southeastern Collaboration to Improve Blood Pressure Control

Suzanne Oparil, Orysya Soroka, Doyle M. Cummings, Erica L. Richman, Alyssa Adams, Jacqueline R. Halladay, Monika M. Safford, James M. Shikany, Charlotte Holt, Stephanie Hart, Muna Anabtawi, Andrea Cherrington
article en

Abstract

Black Americans residing in rural communities are often excluded from clinical trials for hypertension, despite having a high prevalence of the disease and frequent complications. This report describes our research team's experience to support recruitment and retention of rural Black patients with uncontrolled hypertension in the southeastern United States in a cluster-randomized clinical trial. While the focus of this report is on enrollment and engagement, the strategies employed were grounded in long-standing community-engaged research efforts and guided by principles of trust-building, transparency, and shared leadership. We share the challenges encountered and reflect on lessons learned to inform future approaches that authentically engage historically excluded and under-represented communities as active partners in research.

Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US), East Carolina University (US), Cornell University (US), University of Alabama at Birmingham (US), Clinical Research Institute (US), Weill Cornell Medicine (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 42%
Community Health and Development
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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