Sanders-Brown Center on Aging.
Graduate Center for Gerontology, College of Public Health.
Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2020 Oct-Dec;34(4):344-349. doi: 10.1097/WAD.0000000000000404.
African Americans (AA) are disproportionately affected by Alzheimer's disease and related dementias yet are under-represented in clinical research. Outreach events for AA are offered to encourage research participation; however, this approach's effectiveness remains largely unexplored.
To explore the effectiveness of AA-focused versus general audience events, the authors examined attendance data over 5 years, encompassing 10 general audience events and 4 events focused on AA. For each individual, the authors searched center records for recruitment contacts and research enrollment. Summary scores for attendance at AA-focused events, general audience events, and total events were compared between those with and without research involvement.
Out of 773 unique AA that attended ≥1 event, 88 became or were involved in research (11.4% engagement). AA-focused events achieved greater AA attendance than general audience events. Although research-engaged individuals were more likely to have ever attended an AA-focused event than a general audience event, attendance at AA-focused events did not statistically relate to research engagement. In contrast, attendance at events focused on the general public was related to an increased likelihood of research participation.
These findings have important implications for designing and implementing community events to encourage AA research participation.
非裔美国人（AA）受阿尔茨海默病和相关痴呆症的影响不成比例，但在临床研究中代表性不足。为鼓励研究参与，为 AA 提供外联活动；然而，这种方法的有效性在很大程度上仍未得到探索。
为了探索以 AA 为重点与面向普通观众的活动的有效性，作者检查了 5 年来的出席数据，其中包括 10 次面向普通观众的活动和 4 次以 AA 为重点的活动。对于每一个人，作者都在中心记录中搜索了招募联系人和研究登记。比较了有和没有研究参与的人在以 AA 为重点的活动、普通观众活动和总活动中的出席情况的综合得分。
在 773 名出席≥1 次活动的独特 AA 中，88 名成为或参与了研究（11.4%的参与率）。以 AA 为重点的活动比面向普通观众的活动吸引了更多的 AA 出席。尽管参与研究的人更有可能参加过以 AA 为重点的活动，而不是普通观众的活动，但参加以 AA 为重点的活动与研究参与率并无统计学上的关系。相比之下，参加面向普通公众的活动与增加参与研究的可能性有关。
这些发现对设计和实施社区活动以鼓励 AA 研究参与具有重要意义。
