Lessons learned from recruiting nursing homes to a quantitative cross-sectional pilot study

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Healthcare Research
• Long-Term Care

Background:

• Increasing older adult population necessitates flexible, integrated healthcare in long-term care facilities.
• Recruitment challenges in nursing homes limit empirical evidence for effective care.
• Need for improved research methodologies in residential care settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• Identify barriers and challenges in recruiting to a pilot study in care homes.
• Review existing and proposed recruitment strategies for care home research.
• Propose a novel multi-method approach to maximize care home recruitment.

Main Methods:

• Pilot study recruitment analysis.
• Literature review of care home recruitment strategies.
• Development of a multi-method recruitment framework.

Main Results:

• Mistrust, skepticism, and routine disruption are key recruitment barriers.
• Utilizing existing connections, prior engagement, trust-building, and incentives are effective strategies.
• A multi-method approach is proposed to overcome common challenges.

Conclusions:

• Carefully planned recruitment strategies enhance researcher-care home relationships.
• Improved recruitment facilitates rigorous evidence generation for nursing practice and well-being.
• Addressing recruitment barriers is crucial for unbiased research and evidence-based practice.