Recruitment strategies and reach of a digital fall-prevention intervention for community-dwelling older adults

Abstract

Background: To have an impact on the population's health, preventive interventions have to reach a large proportion of the intended population. Digital solutions show potential for providing wider access to fall preventive exercise. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how to reach the target group. The aim of this study was to describe the recruitment process used in the Safe Step randomised controlled trial and the characteristics of the participants reached.Methods: Several recruitment methods, both digital and non-digital, were adopted to reach the intended sample size. Sociodemographic parameters from the baseline questionnaire were used to describe participant characteristics. The characteristics were also compared to a representative sample of older adults in the Swedish population.Results: In total, 1628 older adults were recruited. Social media proved to be the most successful recruitment strategy, through which 76% of the participants were recruited. The participants reached had a mean age of 75.9 years, lived in both urban and rural locations, were already frequent users of the Internet and applications (smartphone/tablet) (79.9%), had higher education (71.9%), and a large proportion were women (79.4%). In comparison with the general population participants in the Safe Step study were more highly educated (p < 0.001), women in the study more frequently lived alone (p < 0.001) and men more often reported poorer self-rated health (p = 0.04). Within the study, men reported a faster deteriorating balance (p = 0.003) and more prescribed medication (p < 0.001) than women. Conclusion:Recruitment via social media is a useful strategy for reaching older adults, especially women and frequent users of the Internet, for a fully self-managed and digital fall prevention exercise intervention. This study underlines that a range of interventions must be available to attract and suit older adults with different functional statuses and digital skills.

‘Maintaining balance in life’—exploring older adults’ long-term engagement in self-managed digital fall prevention exercise

“…The Covid-19 pandemic started during the recruitment period of the Safe Step RCT, and more participants enrolled in the study when the restrictions for adults over 70 years were announced in Sweden [ 20 ]. Therefore, the impact of the pandemic was explored in the interviews.…”

“…The study is based on interviews with a sub-sample of participants from the Safe Step randomized controlled trial (RCT). The RCT protocol and results from the reach and the participant characteristics of the study has been described elsewhere [ 19 , 20 ]. In short, the RCT was ongoing for 12 months and 1628 participants were randomized in a 1:1 ratio.…”

“…In total, 18 older adults [16 women, 2 men] aged from 70 to 87 (median 76.5) were included in this study. The participants in this study, as well as the total sample of the RCT were predominantly women, experienced users of internet on their smartphones and tablets, and highly educated [ 20 ]. The majority of the participant in this study had experienced a fall during the previous year (78%) and presented varying degrees of physical activity engagement at the beginning of the study (Table 1 ).…”

Comparison of digital recruitment strategies for Alzheimer's disease patients

“… 6 Digital recruitment methods can include direct messaging methods based on patient's medical records at research institutions, or digital advertisement on social media platforms both of which have been shown to be effective at reaching older adults for clinical trials. 4 , 7 , 8 Among these different forms of digital recruitment, it is still unclear which of these forms of digital recruitment is more effective at reaching older adults with cognitive impairment (CI) as well as their ability to reach a diverse participant population. 4 , 7 …”

“… 4 , 7 , 8 Among these different forms of digital recruitment, it is still unclear which of these forms of digital recruitment is more effective at reaching older adults with cognitive impairment (CI) as well as their ability to reach a diverse participant population. 4 , 7 …”