title: Recruiting hard-to-reach subjects for exercise interventions: a multi-centre and multi-stage approach targeting general practitioners and their community-dwelling and mobility-limited patients.
abstract: The general practitioner (GP)'s practice appears to be an ideal venue for recruiting community-dwelling older adults with limited mobility. This study (Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN17727272) aimed at evaluating the recruiting process used for a multi-centre exercise intervention (HOMEfit). Each of six steps resulted in an absolute number of patients (N1-N6). Sex and age (for N4-N6) and reasons for dropping out were assessed. Patient database screening (N1-N3) at 15 GP practices yielded N1 = 5,990 patients aged 70 and above who had visited their GP within the past 6 months, N2 = 5,467 after exclusion of institutionalised patients, N3 = 1,545 patients eligible. Using a pre-defined limitation algorithm in order to conserve the practices' resources resulted in N4 = 1,214 patients (80.3 ± 5.6 years, 68% female), who were then officially invited to the final assessment of eligibility at the GP's practice. N5 = 434 patients (79.5 ± 5.4 years, 69% female) attended the practice screening (n = 13 of whom had not received an official invitation). Finally, N6 = 209 (79.8 ± 5.2 years, 74% female) were randomised after they were judged eligible and had given their written informed consent to participate in the randomised controlled trial (overall recruitment rate: 4.4%). The general strategy of utilising a GP's practice to recruit the target group proved beneficial. The data and experiences presented here can help planners of future exercise-intervention studies.
authors: Department of Sports Medicine and Sports Nutrition, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44801 Bochum, Germany. michael.brach@uni-muenster.de.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Brach
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Moschny
authors: Bettina
authors: B
authors: Bücker
authors: Renate
authors: R
authors: Klaaßen-Mielke
authors: Matthias
authors: M
authors: Trampisch
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Wilm
authors: Petra
authors: P
authors: Platen
authors: Timo
authors: T
authors: Hinrichs
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*