Lessons learned regarding recruitment to the National African American Alzheimer Disease Health Literacy Program

Abstract

It has been shown that patients with poor health literacy generally do not fare as well from a health perspective because they lack understanding of health information and are unaware of the steps involved in preventative health care. There are also unique issues with regard to the recruitment of minority participants into research. The National African American Alzheimer Disease Health Literacy Program was a research project whose purpose was to increase the health literacy of African American adults by providing objective scientific and educational information to the African American community of patients, families, and caregivers about dementia and Alzheimer disease. The target audience was the African American communities of Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Newark, and Washington D.C. Reaching into these communities for participants was challenging for a variety of reasons and provided insight into potential strategies for working with the population of elderly African Americans. This article discusses the successes and challenges of the work conducted in Indianapolis.