Quantifying Recruitment Source and Participant Communication Preferences for Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention Research

Abstract

Background: Evidence on effective engagement of diverse participants in AD prevention research is lacking. Objectives: To quantify recruitment source in relation to race, ethnicity, and retention. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: University lab. Participants: Participants included older adults (N=1170) who identified as White (86%), Black (8%), and Hispanic/Latino ethnicity (6%). Measurements: The Cognitive Aging Lab Marketing Questionnaire assessed recruitment source, social media use, and research opportunity communication preferences. Results: Effective recruitment methods and communication preferences vary by race and ethnicity. The most common referral sources were postcards for racial minorities, friend/family referrals for Hispanic/Latinos, and the newspaper for Whites. Whereas Whites preferred email communications, Hispanic/Latinos preferred texts. Conclusions: Recruiting diverse samples in AD prevention research is clinically relevant given high AD-risk of minorities and that health disparities are propagated by their under-representation in research. Our questionnaire and these results may be applied to facilitate effective research engagement.