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Journal of the National Medical Association logoLink to Journal of the National Medical Association
. 2000 Apr;92(4):169–175.

Recruiting elderly African-American women in cancer prevention and control studies: a multifaceted approach and its effectiveness.

K Zhu 1, S Hunter 1, L J Bernard 1, K Payne-Wilks 1, C L Roland 1, R S Levine 1
PMCID: PMC2640591  PMID: 10976173

Abstract

Barriers to engaging African Americans as research participants may be accentuated among older single African-American women partly because of financial, social, physical, and cognitive factors. This article shows our multifaceted strategies and experiences in the recruitment of single African-American women aged 65 and older in a cancer prevention and control study. The study was conducted in 10 public housing complexes in Nashville, Tennessee. Out of 367 eligible women, 325 participated in the study, resulting in a rate of 89%. The result suggests that a strategy, which targets the cultural, perceptive, and cognitive characteristics of the population, was effective for increasing the enrollment of study subjects in this population. Because the single constitute 75% of African-American women aged 65 and older; and the incidence and mortality of cancer are especially high in elderly African Americans, our experiences are encouraging for cancer prevention and control research in the population.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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