Quantifying Recruitment Source and Participant Communication Preferences for Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention Research

Background Evidence on effective engagement of diverse participants in AD prevention research is lacking. Objectives To quantify recruitment source in relation to race, ethnicity, and retention. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting University lab. Participants Participants included older adults (N=1170) who identified as White (86%), Black (8%), and Hispanic/Latino ethnicity (6%). Measurements The Cognitive Aging Lab Marketing Questionnaire assessed recruitment source, social media use, and research opportunity communication preferences. Results Effective recruitment methods and communication preferences vary by race and ethnicity. The most common referral sources were postcards for racial minorities, friend/family referrals for Hispanic/Latinos, and the newspaper for Whites. Whereas Whites preferred email communications, Hispanic/Latinos preferred texts. Conclusions Recruiting diverse samples in AD prevention research is clinically relevant given high AD-risk of minorities and that health disparities are propagated by their under-representation in research. Our questionnaire and these results may be applied to facilitate effective research engagement.