Involving rural, older African Americans and their female informal caregivers in research.

OBJECTIVE

This article presents the methodology, procedures, and results for involving rural, older African Americans and recruiting their female informal caregivers for a well-being and service use study.

METHODS

Using a list of 1,994 Medicare enrollees, this study adapted a reversed screening telephone methodology tested on urban African American elders and their caregivers. It used trained screeners, local African American female interviewers, and a mixed-mode procedure (i.e., telephone and canvassing) to screen elders and recruit caregivers.

RESULTS

Adequate information for 1,547 listings allowed screeners to contact qualified elders meeting the study criteria. Using chi-square analysis, significant differences were found between telephone and canvassing screening methods on nonreferral cases and referral cases. Elders or a proxy referred 286 caregivers. Interviewers obtained 265 of 300 proposed caregiver interviews.

DISCUSSION

Knowledge about the involvement of rural, older African Americans and recruitment of their female informal caregivers in research is essential to understanding recruitment successes and pitfalls in ethnic minority research.