School of Health and Education, Reykjavík University, (Menntavegur 1) Reykjavik (IS101), Iceland.
BMC Palliat Care. 2010 Apr 29;9:7. doi: 10.1186/1472-684X-9-7.
The aim of this study was to determine if Icelandic widowers might foresee obstacles to responding to a questionnaire on bereavement. Also, we sought to compare the proportion of men reporting obstacles in a telephone interview to the actual response rate in the questionnaire survey.
The study was part of a nation-wide survey of widowers who lost their wives in 1999, 2000, and 2001. This included all widowers born in Iceland 1924-1969 (aged 30-75 years) who were alive, and residing in Iceland at the time of the study. A telephone poll was conducted prior to sending out a questionnaire to determine if the widowers would be interested in responding, or if they could see obstacles, which could affect their willingness to respond to a subsequent questionnaire survey. The telephone poll was repeated five years later with a random sample of the original study base to determine if views initially expressed towards the questionnaire survey, had changed over time.
Of the 357 eligible widowers, 11 had died prior to the first telephone interview, yielding a study population of 346 widowers. Of those, 296 (86%) were reachable and all of these (100%) were willing to participate in the telephone survey. Of them, 55% identified obstacles to participation in the questionnaire survey. Men under 60 years were less likely to identify obstacles. Years from loss (second through fourth years) were not associated with reporting obstacles to participation. The response rate in the epidemiological questionnaire survey following the telephone interview was 62% (216/346).Of those who did identify obstacles 23%, did not did not identify any particular obstacle, but 33% stated that "they felt bad" or that it would be "a painful experience" or that they felt "uncomfortable" talking about their grief. About 18% stated their grief was "a private matter"; 6% stated that they did not want to be "stuck with their grief"; 9% said that it was "too late" to talk about their grief or that they "wanted to look towards their future". Additionally, 11% stated "other reasons", including responses like: "it's too early to talk about it", and "I have started another relationship - don't want complications."
The willingness to participate in the telephone interview was high and indicates a strong interest in the subject. Also, exposure to the study appeared to increase willingness to participate, since many men who initially could see obstacles to participation, actually participated in the epidemiological questionnaire survey. However, approximately one third of the men who initially identified obstacles to participation remained negative toward participation throughout the study period.
本研究旨在确定冰岛鳏夫是否能预见对丧亲问卷调查的回应障碍。此外，我们还试图比较在电话访谈中报告存在障碍的男性比例与问卷调查的实际回复率。
该研究是对 1999 年、2000 年和 2001 年丧偶的鳏夫进行的全国性调查的一部分。这包括所有在冰岛出生于 1924 年至 1969 年（年龄在 30 至 75 岁之间）、在世且在研究时居住在冰岛的鳏夫。在发送问卷之前进行了电话民意调查，以确定鳏夫是否有兴趣回应，或者他们是否能看到障碍，这可能会影响他们对随后的问卷调查的回应意愿。五年后，对原始研究基础的随机样本进行了重复电话调查，以确定随着时间的推移，他们对问卷调查最初表达的观点是否发生了变化。
在 357 名符合条件的鳏夫中，有 11 人在第一次电话访谈前已经去世，因此研究人群为 346 名鳏夫。其中，296 人（86%）可联系，这些人（100%）都愿意参加电话调查。其中，55%的人表示参与问卷调查存在障碍。60 岁以下的男性不太可能识别出障碍。失去配偶的年限（第二至第四年）与报告参与障碍无关。在电话访谈后的流行病学问卷调查中，回复率为 62%（216/346）。在那些确实识别出障碍的人中，23%的人没有识别出任何特定的障碍，但 33%的人表示“他们感觉不好”或“这将是一次痛苦的经历”或“他们在谈论自己的悲伤时感到不舒服”。约 18%的人表示他们的悲伤是“私人事务”；6%的人表示他们不想“被悲伤困住”；9%的人表示“现在谈论他们的悲伤已经太晚了”或“他们希望展望未来”。此外，11%的人表示“其他原因”，包括类似的回答：“现在谈论还为时过早”和“我已经开始了另一段关系——不想复杂化。”
参与电话访谈的意愿很高，表明对该主题有强烈的兴趣。此外，接触研究似乎增加了参与的意愿，因为许多最初认为参与存在障碍的男性实际上参与了流行病学问卷调查。然而，大约三分之一的男性在整个研究期间仍然对参与持消极态度。
