The NIH has instituted new policies (eg, the NlH Revitalization Act of 1993) stipulating that all sponsored clinical investigations obtain adequate and/or representative numbers of historically underrepresented groups. As nearly all researchers who attempt to recruit members of minority groups into their studies soon discover, ensuring minority participation in research of all types (eg: clinical, survey) can prove a substantial challenge. Not only have researchers found it exceedingly difficult to recruit and retain adequate numbers of minority participants, but they have also had difficulty achieving proportionate representation of minority older adults. To date, however, little information has been made available to assist researchers in their effort to achieve representative samples of older minority study participants. The absence of such information has proven an obstacle to the efficient planning and implementation of aging-related research, in general, and to studies of multifactorial geriatric health conditions, in particular. In recognition of the need to enhance the research participation of minority older adults, we propose a yearlong project that will: (1) explore Yale-OAIC recruitment and retention data and interview key informants to identify important issues in the recruitment and retention of Black and Hispanic older adults in research, (2) conduct focus groups discussions on ways to promote research participation among Black and Hispanic seniors, and (3) synthesize information obtained from key informants and focus group participant discussions into a set of practical guidelines for enhancing the recruitment and retention of Black and Hispanic elders into studies of multifactorial geriatric health conditions. This information will then be synthesized into recruitment and retention strategies to promote the inclusion of Black and Hispanic seniors into studies of multifactorial geriatric health conditions.
The specific aims of this project are: 1. To identify incentives and disincentives to participation of Black and Hispanic older adults in aging related research. 2. To propose guidelines for enhancing the participation of Black and Hispanic older adults in OAIC related studies of multifactorial health conditions. Following Year 01, promising strategies for the recruitment and retention of Black and Hispanic older adults will be implemented in Yale-OAIC studies, and their efficacy (including cost per participant yields) will be compared with the efficacy of Yale-OAIC studies that do not incorporate the recommended approaches. To the extent that the proposed """"""""best practices"""""""" of recruitment and retention of the minority seniors prove efficacious, they will be suggested for use by other OAIC studies, both at Yale and nationally.
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