Citation

Wrights AP, Fain CW, Miller ME, Jack Rejeski W, Williamson JD, Marsh AP. Contemp. Clin. Trials 2014; 40: 159-165.

Affiliation

Department of Health and Exercise Science, Wake Forest University. Electronic address: marshap@wfu.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.cct.2014.12.003

PMID

25510892

Abstract

PURPOSE: 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. MATERIAL AND 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) was 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. IMPLICATIONS: 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.

Language: en