How to reach 40-60 year olds?

April 17, 2008 8:54 AM

Research/recruiting-filter: How to target or reach people aged 40-60 who might be due for a colonoscopy?

My girlfriend is a researcher and is doing a colon cancer study and needs ways to recruit participants: people aged 40-60 who might be due for a colonoscopy. Can anyone think of events to set table up at or other ways to reach these potential participants? Suggestions that are Chicago specific would be especially helpful. Thanks!

posted by AceRock to work & money (7 comments total)

Perhaps send a questionaire or letter describing the study to primary care physicians in the area?
posted by cahlers at 8:56 AM on April 17, 2008

Talk to your local gay pride center. Gay men are at particular risk for colon/rectal cancer and the center should have a wide network of men.
posted by munchingzombie at 9:04 AM on April 17, 2008

set up a picnic table at the local public golf course on a Saturday morning?
posted by jenkinsEar at 9:17 AM on April 17, 2008

Many people of that age group are walkers. On rainy or cold days, they seek indoor places to do their walking. Talk with your local malls about setting up a table to speak with the mall walkers.
posted by netbros at 11:20 AM on April 17, 2008

Google ad words?

Seriously. Target "AARP" and "Chicago" and you're there.
posted by Leon-arto at 12:15 PM on April 17, 2008

Depending on her budget, perhaps a small ad in the Reader.
posted by WCityMike at 12:55 PM on April 17, 2008

I think cahers had it with primary care physicians. Where I work, there is a faculty member who does cognition studies with babies in which it is necessary that they be exactly five months old, for example. They recruit through local pediatrician offices. I understand that vaccination schedules help immensely, so that whenever a baby comes in for a four-month shot, they are handed a flyer, or sometimes, even names and phone numbers are given out.

Physicians on the whole tend to be very supportive of primary research efforts, and that is a motivation to help you out. But, I think another tack would work even stronger: compliance.

Patient compliance with professional medical advice is a difficult problem--it is a huge problem with psychiatric medications, with teenagers and orthodontic appliances, and, with men who do not want cameras inserted into intimate places. I would think that giving people an additional incentive to have a preventative colonoscopy (paying money plus knowing that you are helping scientific research) might go a long way in gaining the cooperation of a doctor's office.
posted by Maxwell_Smart at 7:14 PM on April 17, 2008