RECRUITING AFRICAN-AMERICAN OLDER ADULTS FOR A COMMUNITY-BASED HEALTHPROMOTION INTERVENTION - WHICH STRATEGIES ARE EFFECTIVE

Introduction: The purpose of this article is to examine the effectiven ess of recruitment strategies used to recruit African-American older a dults for a senior center-based health promotion trial with a G-month exercise component. Methods: We compared multiple strategies for recru iting participants from senior center members and other older adults r esiding in the surrounding predominantly African-American community. T he phonathon, direct telephone recruitment by senior center leadership , is compared with traditional approaches. Results: All recruiting str ategies combined yielded a total of 120 participants. Phonathons invol ving five or six senior center board members in two half-day sessions yielded 40 participants or 33% of all participants. Strategies categor ized as printed media yielded 39 participants or 33% of all participan ts. Strategies categorized as word-of-mouth yielded 31 participants or 26% of all participants. Remaining approaches accounted for an additi onal 10 participants or 8% of all participants. Conclusions: Our resul ts support employing a multifaceted recruitment approach and demonstra te the importance of strong linkages between the research team and com munity leaders in conducting health promotion research in minority com munities. An innovative approach, the phonathon, may be a potentially important recruitment strategy.