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Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Targeted National Recruitment of Community-Dwelling Caregivers Managing Dementia-Related Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms: A Recruitment Approach for a Randomized Clinical Trial
Journal article   Open access

Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Targeted National Recruitment of Community-Dwelling Caregivers Managing Dementia-Related Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms: A Recruitment Approach for a Randomized Clinical Trial

Danny L. Scerpella, Nicole G. Bouranis, Melinda J. Webster, Maria Dellapina, Sokha Koeuth, Lauren J. Parker, Helen C. Kales and Laura N. Gitlin
Journal of geographic information system, v 13(3), pp 302-317
12 May 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/jgis.2021.133017
PMID: 34484851
url
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperDownload.aspx?paperID=109026View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open
url
https://doi.org/10.4236/jgis.2021.133017View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Clinical Trial Dementia or Caregiving Geographic Information Systems GIS Recruitment
Over 16 million caregivers of people living with dementia require support in a range of issues, including self-care, disease education, and guidance for how to manage behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD). Non-pharmacological interventions are needed to address these areas, and online applications have been shown to be safe and effective. To ensure the efficacy of such interventions, racially, ethnically, geographically, and socioeconomically diverse participants must be recruited to increase the generalizability of study outcomes. This protocol paper describes a recruitment plan using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to reach a representative sample of caregivers across the United States for a national Phase III clinical study. Using publicly available census data from the American Community Survey (ACS), combined with location data for local aging resources such as Area Agencies on Aging (AAA), recruitment will be derived from data analysis conducted in ESRI ArcGIS v10.7.1. Datasets including age, gender, income, and education will be assessed nationally at the county and census tract spatial scale in a nine-step process to develop recruitment priority areas containing high concentrations of eligible participants living in the community. Overall, the current protocol will demonstrate the value of GIS in tailoring targeted outreach strategies to recruit community-dwelling populations through local resource institutions. This novel approach may have far-reaching implications in future recruitment initiatives and help to secure racially/ethnically diverse samples.

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