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Published on: July 27, 2018
A Personalized, Symptom-Based Approach to Boost Research Participation in Hospitalized Older Adults
Nicole Ceriani1, Shreya Dhar1, Catherine Zhao1
1Department of Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
|August 4, 2026
Summary
Recruiting older adults for wearable EEG studies is challenging. Personalizing recruitment to focus on familiar symptoms, like sleep disturbance, significantly boosted enrollment in delirium research.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Clinical Research Methodology
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Delirium is a prevalent condition in hospitalized older adults, linked to adverse outcomes.
- Wearable devices offer potential for continuous delirium monitoring due to its fluctuating nature.
- Initial recruitment for a wearable electroencephalography (EEG) study faced low enrollment rates, particularly among older adults and those on non-neurologic services.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate patient and community perspectives on inpatient wearable research.
- To identify barriers and facilitators for recruiting older adults into wearable EEG delirium studies.
- To adapt recruitment strategies to enhance enrollment rates in clinical research involving vulnerable populations.
Main Methods:
- Patients at an academic medical center were approached for an observational, wearable EEG delirium study.
- Reasons for enrollment or decline were systematically recorded.
- A community panel provided insights into recruitment protocols, leading to phased protocol adaptations focusing on personalized symptom relevance and educational materials.
Main Results:
- Initial enrollment was 18.5%; wearable devices were not the primary deterrent.
- Community feedback indicated personal relevance of symptoms and understanding of the condition were key.
- Personalizing recruitment to highlight familiar, personally relevant delirium symptoms significantly increased enrollment to 30.1% (p < 0.001), including for older adults and non-neurologic services.
- Adding educational materials on delirium did not further impact enrollment (p = 0.61).
Conclusions:
- Recruiting hospitalized older adults for research presents unique challenges.
- Tailoring recruitment strategies to emphasize personally relevant symptoms is crucial for improving enrollment.
- Understanding patient perspectives is key to optimizing clinical trial recruitment in diverse inpatient settings.
