Recruitment of African American adults as research participants for a language in aging study: example of a principled, creative, and culture-based approach.

Recruitment of African Americans as research participants continues as a major challenge for researchers studying health and human behavior. Numerous reasons for low participation by African Americans have been cited, most of which evolve around four primary factors: social injustice, education, economics, and cultural differences. To ensure adequate representation of the diversity within the U.S. population in research, the federal government mandates the inclusion of individuals from underrepresented groups as study participants. For African Americans, this number is approximately 12%. Controversy exists, however, as to whether published research studies reflect adequate representation of African Americans as study participants. This article reports a successful approach to the recruitment and retention of 80 African American adults who participated in a study investigating language comprehension in aging.