Using Iterative Concept Testing to Identify Key Considerations for Increasing Research Participation Among Older Racial and Ethnic Minorities Through Social Media Advertising

The US population is becoming older and more diverse, which puts people at higher risk for developing diseases that are the focus of ongoing research studies. These groups are under-represented in clinical research trials. This study is part of a larger project to expand and diversify older adult participation in Alzheimer's and dementia research studies using theory-based targeted messages. Analyses to identify the most important issues to address in health messaging for specific groups have been published broadly, but less has been written about turning this information into messages that are interpreted as intended by members of the target audience. This manuscript reports on the iterative concept testing approach used to create and refine targeted messages based on the reasoned action approach (RAA) to recruit White male, Black, and Hispanic older adults to sign up for an Alzheimer's and dementia-focused research registry using social media advertising. We conducted 20 focus groups with a total of 185 Hispanic (30.8%), Black (48.1%), and White (21.1%) adults between the ages of 50 and 80-years-old in the United States. Results highlighted key considerations for social media advertising recruitment of these target populations, including the importance of attributing the recruitment message to a reputable source to offset concerns about internet scams, and using racial and ethnically diverse images for targeted messaging was preferred over single race/ethnicity images. These results that extend beyond Alzheimer's and dementia-focused research registries can be generalized to recruitment of these target demographic groups across a variety of medical research contexts.