Effective recruitment strategies for Latino and Caucasian dementia family caregivers in intervention research

Objective: Latino family caregivers of older people with memory problems are a rapidly growing group. However, their participation in intervention research is disproportionately low. The authors compared the participant retention rates of three different recruitment strategies in a sample of Latino and Caucasian family caregivers. Methods: A total of 310 caregivers (195 Latino and 105 Caucasian) were screened for participation in one of two clinical intervention trials. Potential participants were recruited from one of three sources: 1) non-professional (e.g., health fairs); 2) professional (e.g., community agencies); and 3) advertisements. Reasons for non-participation were also obtained. Results: Caucasians were significantly more likely to be successfully retained across all recruitment strategies (52% versus 31%, respectively). However, logistic regression revealed a recruitment strategy-by-ethnicity interaction: Latinos were highly similar in retention rates to Caucasians when recruited through professional referrals, and far less likely to participate with other strategies. Descriptive analyses also revealed ethnic differences for non-participation. Conclusion: Partnership of Latino family caregivers with community agencies may result in the highest recruitment rates among this group. Latino cultural values likely play a role in the success of these partnerships in participant recruitment.