Outreach, Recruitment and Engagement Core

PROJECT SUMMARY – Outreach Recruitment and Engagement Core (OREC) Increased prevalence of dementia in African American and Hispanic communities compounds the disproportionate economic and social burden that ADRD has in these historically under-represented groups, thereby creating a public health crisis should these trends continue unabated. To innovate cures and

treatments, we need to understand the broadest characterization of AD phenotypes to enable discovery for new biomarkers that index disease nosology and stage. UC Davis is a national leader for minority recruitment and retention due to its commitment to the principles of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR).

Over its nearly 30-year history, the UC Davis ADRC has developed robust outreach and recruitment processes that reliably identifies, efficiently screens, and clearly consents older adult participants from a wide range of SES, educational and cultural backgrounds. We propose to enhance our continuing in-person efforts with a

complimentary digital e-toolbox. These e-tools use novel digital media marketing that allows us to match unique participant demographics/interests (e.g., African American older adult without cognitive impairment living alone in an urban setting) with specific content (e.g., a video vignette about coping with loneliness and

signs for when to see a doctor), thus enhancing participant engagement and creating a personally meaningful recruitment experience. We refer to the combined toolbox of both in-person and e-resources as the Memorable Outreach, Recruitment, Retention and Engagement (MORRE) toolbox. Using the enhanced MORRE toolbox we aim to: (1) Outreach to diverse older adult communities of Black, Hispanic and White

older adults across Northern California; (2). Pique interest and call-to-action communities of color to participate in a clinical research program focusing on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias; (3) Retain our participants in this clinical cohort by tailor making (a) appreciation events (in-person and digital) to focus on

how their personal contributions of time and effort make the difference in care and treatment discovery; (b) easy-to-use health education media environment personalized to each participant’s age, education and level/stage of disability in-person using familiar digital platforms (e.g., Facebook, YouTube, e-newsletters,

recommended content based on likes and viewing histories); and (4) Engage community leaders through our community advisory board (CAB) in an ongoing dialogue about research project design, community principles and priorities, potential facilitators and barriers that may impact recruitment, and strategize community-based

research project implementation. The significance of this OREC is its foundational support and advocacy for a center-wide vision of CBPR though extensive collaboration with NIA, other ADRC cores and local community partners. The scientific impact of the OREC will be its creation of sophisticated technical resources that

enhance recruitment, assessment and retention of Blacks and Hispanics into clinical research studies.