The authors would like to acknowledge the families at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. This project was funded by the Greater Milwaukee Fund. For more information, please contact Katherine Salamon at Factors Associated with Participation in Pediatric Yoga Research Katherine Simon Salamon 1, Bryant Mascarenhas 2, Steven J. Weisman 3,4, & Keri R. Hainsworth 3 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 1, Santosh Yoga LLC 2, Medical College of Wisconsin 3, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin 4 Introduction Methods Hypotheses Measures Conclusions  An estimated 42% of the American population has utilized at least one form of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM; Bazargan et al., 2008).  Several studies with adults have shown that yoga has been effective for the treatment of various medical conditions, including pain (Garfinkel et al., 1998; Sherman et al., 2005; Williams et al., 2005).  There is less research on the effectiveness of yoga within pediatric populations (Lin et al., 2005).  Despite the effectiveness in adult populations, little is known about the demographics of participants in research trials examining yoga.  The aim of the current investigation was to determine whether participation in a pediatric yoga treatment study varied by ethnic group and other demographic factors.  It was hypothesized that certain demographic characteristics, such as ethnicity and prior use of CAM treatments, would be related to likelihood of study enrollment and extent of participation in a yoga treatment study.  Data were collected within a larger study aiming to explore the effectiveness of yoga for adolescents with chronic daily headaches.  Recruitment data for 2 waves were utilized for this study  Youth were recruited from the neurology clinic at a large Midwestern pediatric hospital  This initial study is consistent with previous reports which suggest that ethnic minority groups are underrepresented in studies involving CAM treatment approaches (Barnett et al., 2003).  These findings highlight the need to develop culturally appropriate recruitment methods as well as the need to better understand barriers to participation in research, particularly for psychologically based studies.  One potential barrier is the assumed link between yoga and religious practices. Despite the educational efforts by the researchers, several families refused participation noting this as the reason for decline.  An area of focus for future research may be to determine how to best present CAM studies in a way that is both informative and culturally sensitive.  It is key to understand how to modify recruitment efforts and CAM treatment approaches to ensure that ethnic minority groups can also experience benefits of CAM treatment options, such as feelings of empowerment and a sense of control over health (Barnett et al., 2003). Procedure  Demographic Information: age, gender, ethnicity, and length of diagnosis was collected at the time of consent/assent.  Holistic Health Questionnaire (HHQ; Tsao et al., 2005) was used to assess previous experience with traditional (e.g., surgery, medication, physical therapy) and nontraditional treatments (e.g., biofeedback, massage, herbal medicine etc.) and to measure expectations of yoga’s effects on pain and sleep, as well as expectations on the pleasantness of yoga. Both the youth and the parent or guardian completed this measure.  During clinic appointments, youth and parents/guardians were approached about the larger study.  If the family expressed interest, the consent/assent was reviewed, signed, and the youth and parent/guardian completed the Holistic Health Questionnaire (HHQ).  The family was given basic information and were informed that they would be called with more information closer to the start date.  Participants included those youth who attended at least 3 sessions of yoga.  Nonparticipants included those youth that signed a consent/assent and completed the HHQ, but went to 2 or fewer yoga sessions. Results  Of the 56 youth approached, 19 completed consent and assent for the study.  A total of 7 youth were considered participants  4 youth in Wave 1 (50% male; Mage = 14.3 years)  3 youth in Wave 2 (66.7% male; Mage = 12.3 years)  There were no differences between the two waves on age, gender, or ethnicity, therefore the data were merged. Participants  Five identified as Caucasian and two identified as Mixed Race  No families who identified as African American, Asian American, or Hispanic/Latino were participators  One youth who identified as African American and Hispanic/Latino and two teens who identified as Mixed Race signed consent/assent, but withdrew before attending the first session. Nonparticipants  Twelve families completed consent/assent for the study, but did not show for more than 2 sessions  50% of the youth were female  Five identified as Caucasian, 4 Mixed Ethnicity, 1 African American, 1 Hispanic/Latino, and 1 family did not report ethnicity Participants verses Nonparticipants  Sixteen parent and youth pairs completed the HHQ  No significant differences between participants and nonparticipants on previous yoga experience or expectations of yoga for pain, sleep, or perceived pleasantness were found for parent or child report Barriers to Participation  Transportation, being too busy (n = 24)  Not interested, not comfortable, religious aspect (n = 12)  Withdrew: phone disconnected, no reason given (n = 9) Exploratory Analyses  Families who identified as African American and Hispanic/Latino only reported using medically based treatments for pain (e.g., medication, surgery), while families identifying as Caucasian and Mixed Ethnicity tended to report using both medical and psychologically based (e.g., biofeedback, psychotherapy) services in the treatment of the youth’s pain. Table 1: Logistic Regressions  For parent report, yoga expectations correctly predicted participants verses nonparticipants 87.5% of the time.  However, only helpfulness for pain was a marginally significant predictor of participation verses nonparticipation.  For youth report, yoga expectations correctly predicted participants verses nonparticipants 68.8% of the time with no significant predictors in the model. BWaldp Model 1: Parent Report (87.5%) Helpful for Pain * Helpful for Sleep NS Pleasantness NS Model 2: Child Report (68.8%) Helpful for Pain NS Helpful for Sleep NS Pleasantness NS NS: Not significant; *p < 0.10, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.01.