Collected information on the quality of needs assessments of the elderly from three sources. Found that the overall quality of the majority of needs assessments was so low as to provide little meaningful input to the planning process. Recommends that states focus on the improvement of needs assessment efforts. (Author)

Outlines problems encountered and strategies evolved to deal with them in four studies of the elderly in Manitoba, Canada. Ethical concerns include consent, obligations of the researcher to the respondent, and demands of the respondent. Emphasizes the heterogeneity of the elderly population and its effect on research process. (Author)

Meta-research study examined ongoing research projects of personal autonomy initiative of Retirement Research Foundation. Developed guidelines emphasizing appropriate setting and context of review for research in long term care, clinical assessment of decisional capacity, and institutional arrangements to minimize conflict of interest. (Author)

An extensive review of the literature on Mexican-American elderly reveals more argument than consensus in interpretation of available data and a tendency for researchers to treat this population as if it were homogeneous. To improve this situation, specific recommendations for future research are offered. (Author)

Reviews the problems associated with recruiting older minorities into mental health research studies and proposes a consumer-centered model of research methodology that addresses the barriers to recruitment and retention in this population. Results reveal that although the consumer-centered methods result in better recruitment of older minorities…

Notes that despite the frequent claims of the superiority of interdisciplinary teams over more usual care patterns, systematic studies of the effectiveness of geriatric interdisciplinary teams are rare. Illustrates the difficult conceptual and methodological problems encountered by investigators. Suggests future research directions. (Author/ABL)

Addresses a number of ethical and methodological issues related to research involving vulnerable populations such as the frail elderly, when the research design calls for a control or nonintervention group. Techniques are presented for building a "limited" service component into the research design. (Author)