Overcoming Recruitment Challenges For Securing A Survey Sample of Caregivers of Community-dwelling Older Adults With Multiple Chronic Conditions - Overcoming Recruitment Challenges For Securing A Survey Sample of Caregivers of Community-dwelling Older Adults With Multiple Chronic Conditions - Open Access Pub

This paper discusses the challenges in recruiting a diverse sample of caregivers of older adults with multiple chronic conditions in two Canadian provinces – Ontario and Alberta, as well as the successful strategies to overcome these challenges. Four strategies were employed to overcome the recruitment challenges experienced. These included: (1) using a multi-pronged recruitment strategy with persistence; (2) knowing the location of the sample in the community; (3) weekly reporting by team members primarily responsible for recruitment and data collection, and; (4) regular team meetings to build on successful recruitment strategies while troubleshooting new approaches. These four strategies complemented one another. The most effective strategies in Alberta (recruiting over 50% of participants) were newspaper advertisements and working with the Alberta Caregivers Association and the Alzheimer Society of Alberta/NWT. In Ontario, the most effective strategy was door to door flyers (recruiting 61.5% of participants). DOI10.14302/issn.2576-9383.jhhr-17-1787 Recruitment of participants in field research is generally a challenge, but is particularly challenging when recruiting busy family caregivers who are caring for community-dwelling older adults with multiple chronic conditions (MCC). This is especially so if these family caregivers are also employed in paid work. There is literature on recruitment strategies used with community-dwelling family caregivers, however there are none to date that address the recruitment challenges and strategies to overcome these challenges, with respect to family caregivers of community living older persons with MCC. The population of older adults with MCC represents one in three community-living older adults in Canada and is predicted to grow substantially given the increased longevity of the Canadian population 1. Family caregivers provide a large proportion of care to these individuals and often experience high levels of caregiver strain. This paper reports on the recruitment challenges and strategies to overcome them in securing a diverse sample of caregivers of older adults with multiple chronic conditions in two Canadian provinces – Ontario and Alberta. MCC was operationalized as a diagnosis of dementia, diabetes and/or stroke in the last 6 months prior to participating in the research, in addition to a minimum of two other chronic conditions. Given the lack of longitudinal evidence in the literature, this study is particularly unique in that it captures the caregiving experience across time, specifically two time points,