Challenges of recruitment and retention of older people from culturally diverse communities in research

The substantial and increasing number of older Australian people from culturally diverse backgrounds justifies the investigation and inclusion of their experiences in ageing research. Few empirical studies have addressed culturally diverse issues in the older population, however, in part because of the particular challenges in recruiting and retaining people from different cultural backgrounds. This article reflects on a research team's experience of recruiting participants from seven cultural groups into a study that sought to explore the links between physical activity and the built environment. Three key issues for recruiting and retaining participants from culturally diverse backgrounds were identified: having access to key local informants; the central role of paid and trained bilingual interviewers; and supporting the research partners in recruitment activities. Furthermore, it appeared that a `one size fits all' approach was not appropriate and that a flexible recruitment strategy may be required to ensure successful recruitment from all cultural groups. The differences observed in this study relating to recruitment and retention rates may be more dependent on the skills and characteristics of those responsible for the recruitment and interviewing, rather than the specific cultural group itself. Older people from some cultural backgrounds may be less likely to respond to traditional recruitment methods and researchers need to be more assiduous and strategic to improve participation rates in research.