ABSTRACT Recruitment and retention of older African American [AA], Latino/Hispanic [LH], and Caribbean [CN] adults into clinical research continues to be a significant challenge. Exploring younger family members' (25-64 years) influence on recruiting older adults (65 years and older) into aging research is particularly important since many culturally diverse adults consult family members when making healthcare treatment decisions. Therefore, the focus of the current proposal is to understand how intergenerational influence (IGI) – the influence of one generation on another in terms of the transfer of skills, attitudes, preferences, values, and behaviors – can be leveraged to recruit and retain older diverse adults into clinical research. We use the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and IGI to guide our research. The primary goal is to have a population of diverse older adults ready to participate in NIA funded clinical research studies. Specific aims of this study are 1) to identify strategies that promote recruitment and enrollment of diverse older adults into aging research; 2) implement a communication plan to increase awareness of and willingness to participate in research and 3) implement a statewide registry of AA, LH and CN older adults ready to participate in NIA- funded clinical research. To the best of our knowledge, this is among the first to propose an organized plan specifically designed to increase our understanding of younger and older diverse adults' knowledge of research participation, and then translate this information into a strategic plan to recruit and enroll older diverse adults throughout Florida into a registry.
