Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Abstract Two common pitfalls of longitudinal research are loss of participants over time and inability to locate participants whose contact information has changed. This article is based on our experiences in locating and retaining a sample of caregivers of persons with Parkinson's disease 8–10 years after we last contacted them. The strategies we used resulted in locating 86% of our sample and retaining 80% of those who were eligible. These strategies included asking participants for a backup contact, asking participants if they would be willing to be contacted again for a future study, making the most of existing search engines, keeping in touch, and being flexible, patient, and professional. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 27:63–68, 2004
Lyons et al. (Wed,) studied this question.