Our research focuses on understanding and preventing sexual risk behavior in vulnerable populations. In particular, the GIRLTALK study sought to understand the role of mother–daughter relationships and communication in sexual risk taking among African American girls seeking mental health services in low-income Chicago communities. Young African American women are among demographic groups in the United States bearing the highest burden of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for Black women ages 25–34 years [1], and risk for young Black women is estimated to be 20 times that for young white women [2]. Furthermore, African American women ages 15–24 are the highest risk demographic group for both chlamydia and gonorrhea, according to United States (US) public health department documentation [3]. A nationally representative study with US high school girls reported that 44 % of African American girls, as compared to 20 % of White and Mexican American girls, were infected with an STI [4]. Like other health disparities that affect minority women, disadvantages associated with living in impoverished, underserved communities likely account for disproportionate rates of STIs among young African American women [5]. Furthermore, African American adolescent girls presenting for mental health services represent a particularly vulnerable subgroup in need of effective intervention to reduce risk for STIs. Indeed, youth in psychiatric treatment tend to engage in higher rates of sexual risk behaviors than their peers [6].

Violence exposure represents another major public health problem that disproportionately impacts young women growing up in low-income urban neighborhoods [7–11]. Violence exposure is also associated with sexual risk (e.g., [7, 12–16]) and mental health problems [17]. A nationally representative US study found that 60 % of 0 to 17-year-olds experienced physical, sexual, or witnessed violence in the year preceding the study [18]. In another nationally representative study, 48 % of adolescents reported lifetime exposure to violence [19]. Research with youth in Chicago, from similar communities as the GIRLTALK women, in the 1990s reported that 26 % of youths aged 7–15 years old had witnessed a shooting, 30 % a stabbing, and 78 % a beating. Half of youth ages 10–19 years old reported physical victimization, and three fourths had witnessed a robbery, stabbing, shooting, or murder. Two thirds of high school students reported being witness to a shooting, nearly one half had witnessed a murder, and over one fourth reported being victims of physical or sexual violence [20, 21]. Given these alarming statistics and links between violence exposure and sexual risk, the newest phase of our work has focused on uncovering pathways from violence exposure to sexual risk in the GIRLTALK young women.

Despite suffering disparate rates of many major health concerns, including violence and sexual risk [5], minority individuals from underserved backgrounds continue to be underrepresented in the published behavioral science literature [22]. In part, this finding relates to the fact that such populations are often hidden, difficult to reach, and distrustful of academic research, making research more costly and challenging to conduct [23]. Yet, research findings with college students or middle-class Caucasians may not generalize to all segments of the population. Moreover, designing effective interventions to reduce health risk requires inclusion of participants from the populations at highest risk. In this narrative, we describe our efforts to maintain a sample of minority women from low-income urban communities.

One critical way that we have maintained relationships with the women is in the context of recruitment and tracking. Our recruitment team includes individuals from the same or similar communities where the young women live. At times, recruiters may even encounter participants in the community. This situation can of course raise challenges. We learned that one of our recruiters, approximately the same age as the women at the current wave, went to the same high school as some of our participants. Although the situation was helpful in the recruiter being able to relate to the participants, we have had to take extra precautions regarding confidentiality. The recruiter was advised to be conscious of the similarities she has with the participants and their curiosity about her position on the research team because participants have sometimes asked her about finding similar work. We asked her to limit conversation around her personal and educational background and to redirect questions about her age, full name, or where she grew up and went to school.