Recruiting older participants to a randomised trial of a community-based fall prevention program

doi:10.1111/j.1741-6612.2007.00203.x

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Wiley InterScience

Australasian Journal on Ageing

Volume 26 Issue 1, Pages 35 - 39

Published Online: 7 Feb 2007

Published on behalf of AJA, Inc.

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Research

Recruiting older participants to a randomised trial of a community-based fall prevention program

Lindy Clemson ¹ , Kirsty Taylor ¹ , Hal Kendig ¹ , Robert G Cumming ² and Megan Swann ³

¹ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
² Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney and the Centre for Education and Research on Ageing, Concord RG Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
³ Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia

Correspondence to: Dr Lindy Clemson, University of Sydney. Email: l.clemson@usyd.edu.au

KEYWORDS

accidental falls • aged • community • prevention • recruitment

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To describe the effectiveness of recruitment strategies used for a randomised trial of a fall prevention program.

Methods: Community-residing persons (n = 310) aged 70 years or older and at risk of falling were recruited using promotional materials, health professional referrals, media, community presentations, mail outs, and friends/relatives. Mail and telephone recruitment strategies were able to be compared to actual recruitment yields, with costs reported for each.

Results: Mail outs by organisations had response rates between 3.1 and 7.7%, with recruitment yields between 1.8 and 4.4%. Local media editorials were low cost and useful. Gender and physical status of participants varied according to the recruitment method, with multisources producing a reasonably representative sample.

Conclusions: Databases and mail outs using personalised letters were the most effective recruitment strategies for a community-based preventive program. This study contributes to the expanding evidence of the kinds of recruitment that are more effective, considering the context of the study and the intervention.

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1741-6612.2007.00203.x About DOI