Recruiting and Retaining Chinese Elders in a Longitudinal Study: Lessons Learned.

Abstract

This article describes strategies for recruiting and retaining Chinese elders in a longitudinal research study related to hypertension management. Chinese participants were recruited for a pilot, longitudinal intervention study. The information presented represents observations on both the recruitment process and participant retention. Recruiting via convenience sampling, offering frequent incentives, and having culturally competent research staff were important in this study with Chinese elders as participants. Among the various approaches used, the highest recruitment rate (50% [11/22]) was obtained from personal referrals with a retention rate of 91% (20/22) over a 6-month intervention period. Personal referral is the best approach for recruiting Chinese elders in the study. In addition, frequent incentives and reminder calls are helpful in retaining participants.