Abstract Introduction Enrolling a diverse and representative sample of older adults in sleep research is critical to generalizability. The goal of this study is to describe lessons learned in recruitment for a remote sample of couples in which one partner has age-related cognitive decline, focusing on how recruitment strategies influenced inclusion of Spanish-speaking participants. Methods The Couples, Healthy Aging, Rhythms 242 eligible), followed by electronic medical record (EMR) recruitment (n = 656; 35 eligible), Center on Aging registries, and BuildClinical. Research Participant Advocates, community health workers (CHWs), and other sources contributed smaller yields. By contrast, among Spanish-speaking potential participants (n = 203), EMR recruitment, CHWs, and Meta ads all yielded similar amounts, with other sources yielding few leads. After screening, nineteen Spanish-speaking participants consented, with half (n = 8) recruited via CHWs and five via Meta ads, highlighting the contribution of CHWs to Spanish-speaking enrollment. Actigraphy adherence was high, with 92.4% providing ≥4 valid days and 82.4% completing the full 7-day schedule. Conclusion Expanding recruitment to include Meta ads and strengthening community-based approaches, particularly CHW outreach, enabled us to meet enrollment targets and improved engagement among Spanish-speaking participants. Remote, couples-based longitudinal studies may benefit from multi-pronged recruitment strategies that combine social media advertising with community-engaged methods. Budgeting for flexible recruitment, tracking recruitment source and language, and being prepared to adapt procedures over time may help improve enrollment, engagement, and representation. Support (if any)
Escorcia et al. (Fri,) studied this question.