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.