Black or African American

The authors of this integrative review found that passive, indirect recruitment strategies have been the default approach for enrolling older African Americans into chronic illness-related research studies, including Alzheimer's studies. They recommend the use of proactive, culturally appropriate recruitment approaches, combined with caring recruiter behaviors, that explicitly target older African American adults and that involve direct interactions between prospective participants and the...

Registry for Remembrance is a community and academic partnership to educate and recruit African Americans for long-term research participation at the Emory Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC).

This 3-minute video features Dan Gasby, who with his wife, the celebrity B. (Barbara) Smith, has advocated for greater public awareness of the disease and for participation in clinical trials. Smith was diagnosed with early Alzheimer’s disease in 2014.

This case study examines how the use of community engagement principles and approaches enhanced clinical trial recruitment and retention. The Meharry Vanderbilt Community Engaged Research Core (CERC), which facilitates community involvement in clinical and translational research, was consulted to enhance participation of African-American women in a clinical trial. CERC's key recommendations included: 1) convene a Community Engagement Studio, 2) redesign the recruitment advertisement, 3) simplify...

NIA has created four video stories profiling participants in Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials. These videos feature participants from different walks of life who discuss what motivates them and how research staff support them to participate in studies and trials. The videos are intended to be shared as part of engagement and recruitment efforts for clinical studies. Each video was made with a specific audience in mind: Will’s Story—When both of Will’s parents developed dementia, he and his...

This article explores strategies to improve participation in cognitive aging research by older adults, particularly minority older adults. The cultural aspects of cognitive aging are examined, especially the role of stigma and stereotype threat. The perceptions of cognitive aging of African American and Hispanic older adults are also described. Specific strategies are presented that have been successfully implemented to improve recruitment and retention in research targeting minority older...

A sample of 304 African-American participants from the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area completed a survey evaluating beliefs about medical research and preferred research study methods. Results showed 90 percent believed that medical research was necessary and assists in finding a cure for a disease. Most respondents expressed a preference for participating in research related to issues with which they were familiar (e.g., diabetes or hypertension) or for working with researchers of a...

Researchers surveyed 1,643 participants to investigate potential motivators, barriers, and facilitators to participation in research that tests a new drug or device. Participants were Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, multiracial, and "other" minorities. Motivators were measured on a scale that ranged from "no influence" (0) to "most influence" (4). Significant differences by race were found for five out of 10 motivating factors. "Risk of unknown side-effects" was the greatest barrier for...

A telephone survey of 511 people in one Southern state explored the communication sources and perceived effective communication channels and strategies through which African Americans and White individuals receive clinical trial information.

This study explored why participation in clinical trials is lower in the African American population. The authors examined two sets of potential barriers: structural/procedural (limited accessibility, lack of awareness, doctors not discussing clinical trial options, and lack of health insurance) and cognitive/psychological (lack of subjective and factual knowledge, misperceptions, distrust, fear, and perceived risk). The authors found that lack of subjective knowledge and perceived risk were...