Recruiting and retaining an ethnically diverse sample of older adults in a longitudinal intervention study

This paper describes strategies developed to recruit and retain an ethnically diverse sample in a longitudinal intervention of 246 participants in the Senior WISE study. The ethnic and socioeconomic differences of these participants necessitated the use of different methods of effectively communicating with this population. Recruitment benefited from the use of focus groups, media attention, and personal appearances in the community. Educational strategies included modification of language and examples. Testing sessions were called interviews, and team members were available to answer questions and to read the instruments to participants, when desired. Participants were sent birthday cards and a monthly newsletter. The study is 90% completed.