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Recruiting older participants to a randomised trial of a community‐based fall prevention program
Author(s) -
Clemson Lindy,
Taylor Kirsty,
Kendig Hal,
Cumming Robert G,
Swann Megan
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.2007.00203.x
Subject(s) - medicine , context (archaeology) , fall prevention , intervention (counseling) , randomized controlled trial , gerontology , falling (accident) , family medicine , nursing , suicide prevention , environmental health , poison control , paleontology , surgery , biology
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.