Gaining and sustaining minority participation in longitudinal research projects

African-Americans are often not enthusiastic about participating in Alzheim er disease research due to past exploitation from medical and public health studies. To assure adequate representation from the African-American commu nity, and to investigate the health needs of this population, strategies to recognize the problems and address the issues have been developed. The rec ruitment approach used existing connections in an urban community using cul turally sensitive strategies. These strategies recruited elderly patients f rom an existing relationship with the Boston University Medical Center Geri atric Service. They built on the researchers' association with a neighborho od health center located in one of the Boston communities and utilized the services of an outreach worker. The outreach worker was from the community, aware of the health care needs of the elderly, and had a relationship with existing elderly community groups. Several methods were used to recruit pa tients. These included one-on-one discussions, posters, existing relationsh ips with elderly groups, and direct phone calls. To develop trust carefully with the community's elders, multiple trust-building strategies were used. A multifaceted recruitment approach and strong linkages between the resear ch team and the community were essential to successful recruitment and rete ntion of participants.