Abstract
Recruitment and retention are critical issues for investigators conducting research on elderly and minority populations. Survey data, abetted by observations of our project manager and interviewers, identified factors affecting recruitment and retention in two studies, one community based and the other clinic based. Recruitment differed for gender and marital status by catchment (personal contact versus church or senior centers). Retention was poorer for older persons in the community study but better for the clinic study, replicating existent findings. Retention in the community study was superior for healthier persons, and poorer for those holding self-regulatory beliefs about disease management in the hypertension study. No quantitative measures of social, functional or psychological-affective characteristics predicted retention. Participant comments suggest that accepted methodology is a barrier to retention.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 67-78 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Journal of Mental Health and Aging |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - 2000 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geriatrics and Gerontology
- Psychiatry and Mental health