Centre for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK.
Eur J Public Health. 2021 Feb 1;31(1):221-226. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckaa142.
Variable consent rates threaten the validity of linked datasets. One modifiable element is the interviewer-respondent relationship. We examine interviewer attitudes to consent to linkage and the effect on respondent consent.
Subjects were 27 380 respondents from the Wave 1 Understanding Society (US) survey in Great Britain and 449 interviewers who completed the US Interviewer Survey. Two types of consent were considered: (i) whether the interviewer would hypothetically agree to having their data linked if he/she was an US respondent and (ii) whether the respondent consented to have their data linked. Factors influencing the interviewer's propensity to link data were examined using logistic regression. The association between interviewer consent and respondent consent to health record linkage was assessed using multi-level logistic regression models.
The interviewer's propensity to consent to data linkage was strongly positively associated with its perceived usefulness: those that found it somewhat useful were 57% less likely to consent [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 0.43, 95% CI: 0.22-0.82] compared to those who thought it was very useful. Positive beliefs about data security and their ability to understand the data linkage information were also associated. Respondents were 17% less likely to consent when interviewed by an interviewer who would not consent to record linkage (AOR 0.83, 95% CI: 0.71-0.97).
The interviewer's propensity to consent was influenced by their beliefs about data linkage, which in turn influenced respondent consent. We recommend using interviewer training to emphasize the usefulness of data linkage and the measures around data security.
可变的同意率威胁到关联数据集的有效性。一个可修改的元素是访谈者-受访者的关系。我们考察了访谈者对同意关联的态度及其对受访者同意的影响。
研究对象是来自英国“理解社会”（US）调查第 1 波的 27380 名受访者和完成美国访谈者调查的 449 名访谈者。考虑了两种类型的同意：（i）如果访谈者是 US 受访者，他/她是否会假设同意将其数据关联；（ii）受访者是否同意将其数据关联。使用逻辑回归检验影响访谈者关联数据倾向的因素。使用多水平逻辑回归模型评估访谈者同意与受访者同意健康记录关联之间的关联。
访谈者同意数据关联的倾向与对其有用性的强烈正向关联：那些认为有些用处的受访者同意的可能性降低了 57%[调整后的优势比（AOR）0.43，95%置信区间（CI）：0.22-0.82]，与那些认为非常有用的受访者相比。对数据安全性的积极信念及其理解数据关联信息的能力也与之相关。当受访者由不同意记录关联的访谈者进行访谈时，同意的可能性降低了 17%（AOR 0.83，95%CI：0.71-0.97）。
访谈者同意的倾向受到他们对数据关联的信念的影响，这反过来又影响了受访者的同意。我们建议使用访谈者培训来强调数据关联的有用性和数据安全性措施。
