TY - JOUR AB - The general practitioner (GP)’s practice appears to be an ideal venue for recruiting community-dwelling older adults with limited mobility. This study (Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN17727272) aimed at evaluating the recruiting process used for a multi-centre exercise intervention (HOMEfit). Each of six steps resulted in an absolute number of patients (N1–N6). Sex and age (for N4–N6) and reasons for dropping out were assessed. Patient database screening (N1–N3) at 15 GP practices yielded N1 = 5,990 patients aged 70 and above who had visited their GP within the past 6 months, N2 = 5,467 after exclusion of institutionalised patients, N3 = 1,545 patients eligible. Using a pre-defined limitation algorithm in order to conserve the practices’ resources resulted in N4 = 1,214 patients (80.3 ± 5.6 years, 68% female), who were then officially invited to the final assessment of eligibility at the GP’s practice. N5 = 434 patients (79.5 ± 5.4 years, 69% female) attended the practice screening (n = 13 of whom had not received an official invitation). Finally, N6 = 209 (79.8 ± 5.2 years, 74% female) were randomised after they were judged eligible and had given their written informed consent to participate in the randomised controlled trial (overall recruitment rate: 4.4%). The general strategy of utilising a GP’s practice to recruit the target group proved beneficial. The data and experiences presented here can help planners of future exercise-intervention studies. AU - Brach, Michael AU - Moschny, Anna AU - Bücker, Bettina AU - Klaaßen-Mielke, Renate AU - Mielke, Renate Klaaßen- AU - Mielke, Renate K.- AU - Mielke, Renate K. AU - Klaassen-Mielke, Renate AU - Mielke, Renate Klaassen- AU - Trampisch, Matthias AU - Wilm, Stefan AU - Platen, Petra AU - Platenová, Petra AU - Hinrichs, Timo DA - 2013-12-02 DO - 10.3390/ijerph10126611 KW - general practitioner KW - recruitment KW - mobility limitation KW - exercise KW - older adults KW - selection bias LA - eng N1 - Finanziert durch den Open-Access-Publikationsfonds 2013/2014 der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) und der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU Münster). N1 - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 10 (2013) 12, 6611-6629. PY - 2013-12-02 TI - Recruiting Hard-to-Reach Subjects for Exercise Interventions: A Multi-Centre and Multi-Stage Approach Targeting General Practitioners and Their Community-Dwelling and Mobility-Limited Patients UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-44319497081 Y2 - 2024-12-26T20:15:34 ER -