RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF OLDER ADULTS CORE

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The Experience Corps [tm] (EC) is a community-based, health promotion model for older adults embedded in a[unreadable] social engagement program. EC provides innovative generative roles for older adults, mobilizing their time,[unreadable] experience, and wisdom in a program designed to improve academic and behavioral outcomes of children in[unreadable] public elementary schools. This Program Project will evaluate a community-based model for health[unreadable] promotion for older adults, that is embedded within a social engagement program that brings their time,[unreadable] experience, and wisdom to bear to improve academic and behavioral outcomes of children in public[unreadable] elementary schools. This core will conduct recruitment and retention of older adult volunteers for Projects 1,[unreadable] 3 and 4 and 5 in this program project. Project 1 will evaluate the physical and cognitive functioning in older[unreadable] adults who are assigned either 1) to the intervention group that participates in Experience Corps, a program[unreadable] for placing a critical mass of adults in selected Baltimore City Schools or 2) to a control group that receives a[unreadable] referral to low-intensity volunteer activities offered through the Baltimore Commission on Aging and[unreadable] Retirement Education. Project 3 proposes to utilize functional MRIs to evaluate brain differences in a[unreadable] subgroup of the intervention and control group. Project 4 will evaluate social and psychological outcomes in[unreadable] the older adult participants, and a Project 5 will explore the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the[unreadable] program. The specific aims follow: 1) Implement strategies for recruitment and retention of older adult[unreadable] volunteers for participation in the randomized controlled trial for Projects 1, 3, 4 and 5. This core has refined[unreadable] strategies previously used to recruit older adults, given the possibility of randomization to an EC participant[unreadable] group or a control group, and to retain older adults randomized as both the EC participants and controls[unreadable] throughout the evaluation process. 2)Continuously refine and evaluate recruitment messages and strategies,[unreadable] and analyze the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness for specific target populations of potential older adult[unreadable] volunteers with Project 5 and Cores C and D. 3) Identify and analyze individual and community factors that[unreadable] impact the effectiveness of recruitment, attendance and retention over time, with Cores C and D. 4)Develop[unreadable] and refine messages targeting a sub-study (Project 3) of the larger trial, and recruit volunteers for functional[unreadable] MRI evaluation. This will include educating prospective volunteers and controls about the safety and value of[unreadable] functional MRI neuro-imaging in lay terms. EC represents offer an innovative and potentially powerful[unreadable] approach to compress morbidity in older adults on a large social scale, and a successful recruitment by this[unreadable] Core would further demonstrate that this model has the potential to appeal to a diverse and sizable number[unreadable] of older Americans.