Recruiting Anxious Older Adults for a Psychotherapy Outcome Study

Although anxiety is a serious problem among the elderly, very little research has been conducted with anxious older adults. One reason is that although anxiety disorders overall are more common than depression in older community samples, many specific anxiety disorders are relatively rare. Furthermore, anxious older adults often do not seek treatment or otherwise come to the attention of mental health researchers. This paper describes the first year of recruitment efforts for a treatment outcome study of psychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder in adults at least 55 years old. Successful methods included collaborations with hospital-based health education programs and senior centers, as well as notices in local and senior newspapers. Less successful methods included radio public service announcements and mailings to residential facilities, churches and synagogues, and physicians. Recommendations for recruitment of anxious older adults into research projects are discussed.