Attitudes and participation of the elderly in population surveys: data from a longitudinal study on aging and dementia in Stockholm.

The aim of this article was to assess the attitudes of older adults (age >74 years) toward research participation. A questionnaire was mailed to the study population (n=1197) which included people who had participated in a longitudinal study once, twice, three times, or more. The participants showed a positive attitude in general as 79% saw an advantage of participation and 72% did not report any negative reaction. Older elderly with impaired cognitive functioning and lower education showed the least positive attitude, reporting the first contact and the cognitive testing as the most stressful situations. The group who had participated more than once was the most positive, but more often refused some parts of the clinical examination. We conclude that: (1) more attention is necessary to the initial contact; (2) reduction of stressful or tiring examinations is recommended; and (3) complete information about the research, including the right to refuse individual parts of the study, must be given. Such procedures will improve both the quality and the ethics of the research.