COMMUNITY RECRUITMENT OF SERIOUSLY ILL AFRICAN AMERICAN ELDERS

Purpose: To describe community research recruitment methods with seriously ill African American elders. Background: Minority group members' participation in clinical research is essential for eliminating palliative care (PC) health inequalities. For African American (AA) elders with serious illnesses, disparities in the receipt of PC, satisfaction with that care, and care inconsistent with their wishes, leading to decreased quality of life and increased suffering, are well documented. Collaborative partnerships within the community are essential to ensure success with recruitment of seriously ill African American elders. Methods: The current study is a descriptive study of psych-social-spiritual healing in seriously ill AA elders. Recruitment site #1 was a primary care nurse practitioner clinic in urban Jackson, MS. Within this clinic setting, the principal investigator developed relationships with the executive director, the providers, and the entire staff. At the suggestion of the executive director, weekly calls to the staff from the PI were made. The weekly call prompted the staff to quickly scan the schedule of patients being seen in the clinic that week for any potential participants based on inclusion criteria. If a potential participant was found on the weekly schedule by the staff, the staff would share with the PI only which provider was seeing the potential participant without sharing any patient identifiers. At that time, the PI would e-mail the provider to a reminder to discuss the study with patients who might meet the inclusion criteria. After the clinic visit, the PI would follow-up with the provider in person to determine if participant had given verbal approval for PI to contact them. The second recruitment site was a statewide congregational health nursing (CHN) society based in Jackson, MS with a mission of reducing disparities for AAs. The PI developed relationships with the executive director and other CHN by providing assistance at the church based health and wellness programs. Through these efforts, trusting relationships were developed with a core group of CHN. These CHNs would then inquire with potential participants. If those persons were interested in participating, the CHN would provide contact information to the PI. Results: Effective strategies of community research recruitment methods were to identify key community partners, build trusting relationships with community partners, and become involved and participate in community events. The trust that was already present between potential participants and the community partner was then transferred to the PI. In this way, a collective trust has been developed between all interested parties and has been a key factor for participation in the PI’s ongoing study. Implications: Recruitment methods that identify community partners, build trusting relationships, and develop collaborative productive partnerships can be used successfully by other nurse scientists working with vulnerable populations.