La. Anderson et al., RECRUITING FROM THE COMMUNITY - LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE DIABETES CARE FOR OLDER ADULTS PROJECT, The Gerontologist, 35(3), 1995, pp. 395-401
Recruitment methods for enrolling community-based older adults into a
study of intensive diabetes management are presented. Analysis of a th
ree-step enrollment procedure revealed that persons who declined at th
e first step were slightly older and lived farther away from the study
site than persons who continued in the enrollment process. Persons wh
o declined cited distance from clinic, some aspect of the study protoc
ol, or health/personal problems as major barriers to involvement. Recr
uitment strategies were compared, revealing that press releases and ne
wspaper advertisements were the most effective strategies for recruiti
ng eligible participants. Methods such as those described here should
help to facilitate future recruitment efforts with community-based old
er adults.