Rosoff Philip M, Werner Cary, Clipp Elizabeth C, Guill Ann Bebe, Bonner Melanie, Demark-Wahnefried Wendy
Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University Medical Center, 222 Bell Building, Trent Drive, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2005 May;14(5):1330-2. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-04-0716.
Mailed surveys are widely used to collect epidemiologic and health service data. Given that nonresponse can threaten the validity of surveys, modest incentives are often used to increase response rates. A study was undertaken among childhood cancer survivors and their parents to determine if response rate to a mailed survey differed with provision of immediate versus delayed incentives.
A self-administered survey designed to ascertain health behaviors was mailed to 397 childhood cancer survivors (and their parents if the survivor was <18 years of age). Subjects were randomized into two groups based on gender, age, race, and cancer type. One group received a 10 US dollars incentive with their blank survey (unconditional incentive), whereas the other group received the incentive upon receipt of their completed survey (conditional incentive). If children were minors, both the parent and the child received incentives.
No significant differences in response rates were observed with respect to gender, age, race, or cancer type. However, significant differences in response rates were observed between incentive groups, with unconditional incentives yielding significantly higher response rates than conditional incentives for child survivors who were > or =18 years (64.4% versus 49.0%), as well as younger child survivors (62.5% versus 43.6%) and their parents (64.8% versus 41.5%; all P < 0.05).
The provision of an immediate incentive generated significantly higher response rates to this mailed health survey among childhood cancer survivors and their parents. Given that survey studies are commonly conducted across various pediatric populations, these findings may help inform the design of future pediatric survey research.
邮寄调查问卷被广泛用于收集流行病学和卫生服务数据。鉴于无应答可能威胁调查的有效性，通常会采用适度的激励措施来提高应答率。对儿童癌症幸存者及其父母进行了一项研究，以确定邮寄调查问卷的应答率在提供即时激励与延迟激励时是否存在差异。
一项旨在确定健康行为的自填式调查问卷被邮寄给397名儿童癌症幸存者（如果幸存者年龄小于18岁，则同时邮寄给其父母）。根据性别、年龄、种族和癌症类型将受试者随机分为两组。一组在收到空白调查问卷时获得10美元的激励（无条件激励），而另一组在收到完成的调查问卷后获得激励（有条件激励）。如果儿童是未成年人，其父母和儿童都会获得激励。
在性别、年龄、种族或癌症类型方面，未观察到应答率有显著差异。然而，在激励组之间观察到了应答率的显著差异，对于18岁及以上的儿童幸存者（64.4%对49.0%）、年龄较小的儿童幸存者（62.5%对43.6%）及其父母（64.8%对41.5%；所有P<0.05），无条件激励产生的应答率显著高于有条件激励。
提供即时激励使儿童癌症幸存者及其父母对这份邮寄的健康调查问卷的应答率显著提高。鉴于调查研究通常在各种儿科人群中进行，这些发现可能有助于为未来儿科调查研究的设计提供参考。
