The 5Ts Framework serves as a valuable organizing model for the best practice recommendations we have gathered for improving inclusion across the lifespan. To see recommendations for each “T” select Target population, Team, Time, Tips to Accommodate, or Tools. Or to narrow the list of recommendations to those most relevant to your study, use the filters to select your “Data collection method,” “Study design,” “Study setting”, current study “Activity,” or “Person.”
Recommendations
Displaying 4 Recommendations
| Build culturally competent and inclusive research teams that include members of the target community. Approaches to research inclusion of underrepresented populations designed for younger populations may not adequately address the added barriers that older adults face. These barriers may be at the individual or structural level. Lessons learned in the clinical care of older adults could be used in research. The American Geriatrics Society has several resources that may be helpful. References: |
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| Engage experts in aging research, and assemble study teams with experience interacting with older participants. Aging research experts include geriatricians (clinicians trained in caring for older adults) and gerontologists (sociologists, psychologists, and other scientists focused on issues related to aging). Also consider experts from the many fields that provide interdisciplinary healthcare or conduct research in older populations such as nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, pharmacy, social work, and audiology. Useful Link: https://www.peppercenter.org/ |
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| Involve participants, their family, their caregivers, their health care providers, and/or their community advocates as active members of the team. Older adults often look to their family, caregivers, community leaders, and healthcare providers for advice about participating in research. In many cases older adults may depend on others for transportation, scheduling appointments, or help adhering to study protocols. Rather than seeing these people a "gatekeepers," researchers should identify how these "team members" may help support participation in the study. Useful Link: https://clic-ctsa.org/education/community-engaged-research-cenr-diverse-older-adults |
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| Train team members to recognize and accommodate age-related sensory, functional, and cognitive limitations. Study staff often learn to enroll older adults through "trial and error" and by incorporating strategies from their own personal experiences with older adults. Few have formal training in aging. Consider providing brief aging sensitivity training focusing on how age-related sensory, functional, and cognitive changes might affect each activity in your study. Useful Link: https://clic-ctsa.org/education/educating-research-teams-meet-nih-lifespan-inclusion-policy Reference: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35764920/ |
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