Community-Embedded Recruitment Strategies for Engaging Structurally Vulnerable Latino Immigrant Men

In the United States, Latino men (LM) remain chronically underserved within health and social service systems despite elevated health risks shaped by structural vulnerability. These risks are intensified among men experiencing poverty, limited English proficiency, transnational family separation, and labor-related precarity. Concurrently, LM are underrepresented in research due to institutional mistrust and fear of surveillance, particularly during periods of intensified immigration enforcement. This underrepresentation contributes to critical gaps in empirical evidence needed to inform policy and practice. Aligned with SSWR 2027’s emphasis on equity, democracy, and the common good, this presentation draws on lessons learned from a community-based health study with LM to identify effective strategies for recruiting and engaging this hard-to-reach population.

Methods:
This community-based behavioral health study, Hombres Saludables, included diverse foreign-born US Latino men (N = 353) residing in the Baltimore–Washington, DC metropolitan area. Participants’ primary country of origin included Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, with a mean age of 41 years and an average U.S. residency of 13 years. Purposive and snowball sampling recruitment strategies were used through street-based outreach and community events, facilitated by key community informants and trusted local figures. Data were collected via a structured, interviewer-administered survey and conducted in person by trained bilingual community interviewers. Interviews averaged 40 minutes, and participants received $40 compensation. Recruitment processes and engagement patterns were systematically tracked across strategies to assess how different outreach modalities shaped trust, participation, and retention among structurally vulnerable men.

Results:
Data collection occurred during a period of heightened immigration enforcement, including reported raids and increased surveillance in Latino immigrant neighborhoods, which significantly reduced this group’s public visibility. Despite these barriers, recruitment was successful through a multi-level, community-embedded strategy consisting of: (1) sustained partnerships with trusted community gatekeepers and leaders; (2) consistent presence in high-density Latino neighborhoods; (3) outreach through churches, local markets, and community-based organizations; (4) dissemination via Spanish-language radio, WhatsApp networks, and peer referral chains; and (5) recruitment by community interviewers embedded within existing social networks. Flexible scheduling and participant-selected locations reduced perceived institutional risk.

Findings indicate that trust operated as a relational and dynamic mechanism, produced through repeated, low-threshold, and peer-mediated interactions rather than assumed a priori. Peer referral and snowball sampling were particularly effective in reaching individuals who actively avoid formal institutions due to mistrust and prior negative experiences. Participation increased when research activities were embedded within everyday community settings and decoupled from formal institutional spaces. These patterns demonstrate how structural vulnerability shapes not only health risks but also access to participation in research and knowledge production.

Conclusion:
Effective engagement with structurally vulnerable LM requires approaches that extend beyond procedural methodological adaptation to address the structural production of mistrust and exclusion. Community-embedded and peer-driven strategies serve as critical mechanisms for generating relational trust and expanding research participation under conditions of heightened surveillance and perceived threat. Systematically incorporating these field-based lessons can strengthen researchers’ capacity to recruit and engage diverse populations, ensuring that the knowledge base more accurately reflects the experiences of structurally marginalized communities.