Introduction

Little is known about factors affecting motivation and satisfaction of participants in dementia prevention trials.

Methods

A Research Satisfaction Survey was administered to 422 nondemented older adults who participated in the Home-Based Assessment trial.

Results

Overall satisfaction was high, with means of all individual items near to above a value of 3 on a scale from 1 (worst) to 4 (best). Greater satisfaction was associated with staff-administered interviews versus automated technologies. The most liked aspects of research participation were volunteerism, opportunity to challenge and improve mental function, and positive interactions with staff. The least liked aspect was repetitiveness of the assessments. Participants requested more contact with staff and other older adults and more feedback on performance.

Discussion

Older adults' participation in research was primarily motivated by altruism. Methodologies that facilitate human contact, encourage feedback and novelty of tasks should be incorporated into future trial design.

Introduction

There is an unmet need for effective methods for conducting dementia prevention trials.

Methods

Home-based assessment study compared feasibility and efficiency, ability to capture change over time using in-home instruments, and ability to predict cognitive conversion using predefined triggers in a randomized clinical trial in (1) mail-in questionnaire/live telephone interviews, (2) automated telephone/interactive voice recognition, and (3) internet-based computer Kiosk technologies. Primary endpoint was defined as cognitive conversion.

Results

Analysis followed a modified intent-to-treat principle. Dropout rates were low and similar across technologies but participants in Kiosk were more likely to dropout earlier. Staff resources needed were higher in Kiosk. In-home instruments distinguished conversion and stable groups. Cognitively stable group showed improvement in cognitive measures. Triggering was associated with higher likelihood of conversion but statistically significant only in mail-in questionnaire/live telephone interviews.

Discussion

Relatively low efficiency of internet-based assessment compared with testing by live-assessors has implications for internet-based recruitment and assessment efforts currently proposed for diverse populations.