Successful participatory recruitment strategies informing research directions on nutrition interventions for older Chinese Americans living in South Florida

Effective recruitment strategies of racial and ethnic minorities are essential in health disparity research. Chinese American population, the largest Asian group, is transitioning into an at-risk group for ethnically associated health disparity as the prevalence of certain diet-related chronic diseases in the fast growing Chinese American community is higher than whites. This study aimed to describe effective strategies for recruiting the community-living aging population of this ethnic group in South Florida and examine characteristics of 100 participants (mean age = 70.9±6.8) recruited through proactive (in-person recruitment at various social/cultural and religious organizations), reactive (flyers or ads inviting participants), and participant-driven chain referral approaches. Strategies were most effective when collaborating with the community through a stakeholder advisory panel, seeking assistance of key informants and community insiders to gain access to the hard-to-reach elderly population, and matching cultural competence and background of the research team. The use of multiple strategies enhanced recruitment of qualified older Chinese in this study. Proactive recruitment was most successful (75%), followed by chain referral (25%). Compared to proactive recruitment, chain referral subjects were significantly associated with lower nutrient adequacy and higher nutritional risk using the univariate analyses. Proactive recruitment was essential to enhance inclusion rate, while chain referral might facilitate the inclusion of subjects who were at high nutritional risk and might not have been identified. The differences based on recruitment strategy might be used to tailor nutrition interventions for older Chinese. These findings provide strategies for successful conduct of research with racial and ethnic aging minorities.