Women interested in finding out if they are eligible to join the National Children’s Study should contact the appropriate local Study location. For a full list of Study locations, including those that are currently enrolling, see the
Study Locations List. Web sites for the Study Centers and locations currently enrolling can be found at
Study Center Web Sites.
The National Children’s Study will enroll women from 105 Study locations (counties or groups of counties) throughout the United States. Researchers originally selected all Study locations using a scientifically valid sampling method to ensure that children and families across the nation—from diverse ethnic, racial, economic, religious, geographic, and social groups—are included. Only women who live within these pre-selected Study locations will be eligible to be part of the Study.
The first seven Study locations began enrolling women into the Study in 2009. Thirty additional locations across the country began participating in the Vanguard Study and enrolling Study participants in late 2010. Study Centers will begin enrolling additional participants over the next couple of years in the remaining Study locations.
The Vanguard Study locations will be testing recruitment strategies and reaching out to women in one of three ways. Some women will be visited at home by Study staff who will explain what it means to join the Study and will then determine if a potential participant would like to enroll. Other women will learn about the Study through their health care providers, such as local physicians’ offices, health clinics, and hospitals. An additional outreach approach will include a two-tiered recruitment strategy that will use a larger geographic area to determine participant eligibility for the Vanguard Study and include a lower intensity data collection effort, with some women being invited to join a higher intensity data collection effort. A list of the proposed schedule for Vanguard Study visits is available at Proposed Vanguard Study Participant Visit Schedule (PDF 42 KB).
Women and their families could have a major impact on the health of future generations by joining the National Children’s Study, helping their communities and country to gain a better understanding of children’s health and development.