Response to direct and indirect recruitment for a randomised dental clinical trial in a multicultural population of elders.
OBJECTIVE
Recruitment for randomised clinical trials and community-based studies has received little attention in the dental literature. The goal of this study was to report on our experiences with direct and indirect recruitment methods for a trial to prevent tooth loss in elders.


METHODS
A direct approach, consisting of an introductory lecture with the help of a local contact person in each of the nine community centres, resulted in 208 recruits mostly from minority non-English speaking communities (52%), whereas the other 192 recruits who responded to newspaper announcements (48%) were, in large part, from the English-speaking community.


RESULTS
The response suggests that a more direct and culturally specific approach is more productive when recruiting elders from ethnic minority groups, whereas elders from the dominant culture can be recruited indirectly and for about half the financial cost through newspaper announcements.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude, therefore, that both direct and indirect methods are needed to recruit a multiethnic sample of subjects for a trial.
MacEntee
Michael I
MI
Faculty of Dentistry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. macentee@interchange.ubc.ca
Wyatt
Christopher
C
Kiyak
H Asuman
HA
Hujoel
Philippe P
PP
Persson
Rigmor E
RE
Persson
G Rutger
GR
Powell
L Virginia
LV
D000368:Aged; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D006801:Humans; D008722:Methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D009067:Mouthwashes / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D018579:Patient Selection; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000517:prevention & control
D009067:Mouthwashes