Nursing Research; Charlene J. Gamboa, Wrenetha A. Julion, Louis Fogg, Dawn T. Bounds, Jen’nea Sumo, Lisa L. Barnes; Published December 16, 2022; DOI: 10.1097/NNR.0000000000000640

Abstract

Background

African Americans (AAs) are underrepresented in health-related research studies. Few studies have investigated how behaviors of study recruiters affect recruitment of older AAs versus non-Latinx Whites (NLWs).

Objective

To explore whether caring behaviors influence AAs and NLWs older adults’ decision to participate in hypothetical, high commitment, health-related research studies and differences in participants’ enrollment decisions by race.

Methods

Using a descriptive, cross-sectional study design, guided by Kristen Swanson’s Middle-Range Theory of Caring, a research-savvy sample of 60 AAs and 60 NLWs adults (age > 65) were randomly assigned one of two written vignettes. The concept of caring behaviors was manipulated and illustrated in a hypothetical recruitment scenario. A participant feedback survey was used to (a) assess participants’ perceptions of caring and uncaring behaviors exhibited by the fictitious research recruiter; (b) differences in their willingness to participate based on vignette type; and (c) participants judged the research recruiter as being caring or uncaring. A chi-square test assessed the association between categorical variables (caring behavior and participants’ race).

Results

Participants who received the vignette with the high caring recruiter were more than twice as likely to agree to participate in the study than those who received the vignette with the low caring recruiter. AAs and NLWs participants did not differ in their likelihood to agree to participate. Participants who received the caring vignette and judged the recruiter as caring were 5 times as likely to agree to participate in the high commitment study than those who received the uncaring vignette (p < .001). Associations did not vary by race.

Discussion

This experimental study of equally recruited older adults from an existing longitudinal study revealed that caring behaviors in recruitment strategies are associated with an increased likelihood of participation in high commitment research with older adults. The research-savvy AAs participants were just as likely to participate in the hypothetical high-commitment research as their NLWs peers when the fictional research recruiter was perceived as having caring behaviors. When targeting specific populations, it is essential to employ nuanced recruitment approaches where the study recruiters are attuned to caring behaviors.