title: Assessing physical and cognitive function of older adults in continuing care retirement communities: who are we recruiting?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  In partnership with six Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs), the current study focused on the feasibility of recruiting a representative sample of residents and then assessing their functional health.
  
  
  METHODS
  With our guidance, each of the six CCRCs recruited a volunteer (V-Group) and random (R-Group) sample of independent living residents. We provided face-to-face training and ongoing remote electronic support to the CCRC staff on the testing battery and the Web-based data entry system. The testing battery was consisted of demographic, physical function, and psychosocial assessments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After training, CCRC staff were receptive to the study goals and successfully used the data entry Website. In the V-Group (N=189), 76% were already participating in CCRC wellness programs. We attempted to recruit a random, unbiased (R-Group) sample of 20% (n=105) of eligible residents; however, only 30 consented to be tested and 70% of this group (21/30) were also already participating in a wellness program. Mean age of all participants was 82.9 years. The V-Group had a higher Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) total score (least squares mean [SE], 9.4 [0.2] vs 8.2 [0.4], p=0.014) and SPPB gait speed component score (3.5 [0.1] vs 3.0 [0.2], p=0.007) and spent more time doing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (300 [21] vs 163 [49] min/week, p=0.013) compared to the R-Group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While it is feasible to recruit, assess and transmit data on residents' functional health in partnership with CCRCs, population validity was severely compromised. Attention needs to be given to the development of more effective methods to recruit less interested residents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Exercise Science, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, United States.
authors.forename: Abbie P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Wrights
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Exercise Science, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, United States.
authors.forename: Christie W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Fain
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistical Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States.
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Exercise Science, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, United States.
authors.forename: W Jack
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Rejeski
authors.affiliation: Department of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States.
authors.forename: Jeff D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Williamson
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Exercise Science, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, United States. Electronic address: marshap@wfu.edu.
authors.forename: Anthony P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Marsh
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D018579:Patient Selection; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D012107:Research Design; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Older adults; Physical function assessment; Recruitment; Translational research