The UCLA OAIC Recruitment Core (RC) will enhance participation of older persons from diverse communities who are at greatest risk for functional decline and poor health outcomes in studies by providing a structure for sharing expertise in this essential area with a larger group of faculty who are conducting clinical research with the UCLA OAIC. Given the disproportionate burden of chronic diseases and functional impairment among minority elders, and consistent with the theme of the UCLA OAIC, it is critical to have participation of older African Americans and Latinos in the studies linked to the UCLA OAIC so that the interventions developed to maintain independence are generalizable to the populations most in need of them. Additionally, inclusion of minority elders in studies designed to examine the biological mechanisms of successful interventions will provide the data needed to examine whether these mechanisms vary by race and ethnicity. To this end, the Recruitment Core has the following specific aims: 1. To enhance the recruitment of minority elders into studies associated with the UCLA OAIC by creating and maintaining an infrastructure of mutually beneficial academic/community partnerships within South Los Angeles and the Northeast Valley. 2. To conduct a qualitative assessment with the 10 community partners to identify their research priority areas and health goals and to match these areas with the research interests of OAIC faculty. 3. Develop and implement a mentoring curriculum to train and develop highly skilled research scientists in participatory methods focusing on successful strategies for the recruitment of minority elders and communication of research findings to members of minority communities. 4. Establish a monitoring process to evaluate the impact of the RC on key endpoints such as the resources needed to accrue sample in ongoing studies and the knowledge and perceptions about the value of clinical research in the community. The RC will work closely with a Community Action Board (CAB) that is made up of 10 organizations that represent African American and Latino seniors in Los Angeles. All 10 of these groups have participated in federally funded research and the leaders have mentored faculty who are conducting community-based research. During Year 1, the RC will augment and enhance recruitment for 4 extramurally funded projects and a pilot study, implement a curricular and mentoring plan that will develop investigators with expertise in a """"""""community-focused"""""""" research perspective, and will work with the CAB to develop strategies for the dissemination of information about new OAIC studies. During years 2 through 5, the RC will also design developmental studies to evaluate the effectiveness of various community-based recruitment strategies.
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