Research Attitudes and Interest Among Elderly Latinxs: The Impact of a Collaborative Video and Community Peers

Abstract

Background: Latinx elders are underrepresented in dementia research. In a previous study we assessed research attitudes in urban minority elders and found a significant minority expressed neutral to negative attitudes relating to trust, safety, and personal responsibility to help research. Objective: To assess the impact of a composite intervention on attitudes toward research and research participation among elderly Latinx. The intervention was a collaboratively produced research participation video shown during presentations with our elderly community advisory board (CAB) as co-presenters. Methods: The video was created by the ADRC and CAB. All senior center attendees were eligible to participate. Afterwards, the Research Attitudes Questionnaire (RAQ) and a brief questionnaire on the impact of the video were administered. Using Wilcoxon Rank Sum Tests, Chi Square, and OLS regressions, RAQ responses were compared to those from a historical cohort from similar centers. Results: 74 in the “Historical Cohort 1” and 104 in “Intervention Cohort 2” were included. RAQ total score was higher in Cohort 2 than Cohort 1 (28.5 versus 26.1, p < 0.05) after controlling for age, education, and country of origin. In response to the question “Has the video influenced your willingness and interest to participate in research”, 88.7%of the participants in Cohort 2 reported being “more” or “much more” interested in research. Conclusion: Tailoring community research recruitment programs to include relatable peers using novel recruitment techniques may have positive implications for improving enrollment of diverse elderly individuals in research.

Digital culturally tailored marketing for enrolling Latino participants in a web‐based registry: Baseline metrics from the Brain Health Registry

“…The efficacy of the culturally tailored reminder e‐mails will be investigated in future analysis. There is emerging evidence that videos developed with the Latino community that feature ethnically concordant community members and study investigator peers, can increase willingness and interest to participate in research 58 . Therefore, enrollment effort videos that feature members of the CSPB, address concerns and/or barriers to participation, and clarify what it means to participate in BHR are under development and will be added to advertisements and websites.…”

COVID‐19 pandemic's relationship with enrollment at US Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers

“…The United States’ National Institute on Aging (NIA)‐funded Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) network is an important part of ADRD research and a recruitment source for many cutting‐edge clinical trials. Because ADRCs tend to be highly selected samples not representative of the general US population, these centers were the focus of numerous initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion in the years leading up to the pandemic 18‐20 . In the context of the pandemic, substantial losses of participation among people from historically underserved racial and ethnic groups or women would undermine progress on the aims of reducing ADRD health disparities and promoting brain health equity and justice.…”

“…Because ADRCs tend to be highly selected samples not representative of the general US population, these centers were the focus of numerous initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion in the years leading up to the pandemic. 18 , 19 , 20 In the context of the pandemic, substantial losses of participation among people from historically underserved racial and ethnic groups or women would undermine progress on the aims of reducing ADRD health disparities and promoting brain health equity and justice. Thus, our objective was to characterize the relationship of the COVID‐19 pandemic with enrollment in the NIA‐funded ADRCs overall and by race, ethnicity, and sex.…”