Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, 295 Chipeta Way, Salt Lake City, UT, 84132, USA.
Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah School of Medicine, 295 Chipeta Way, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA.
BMC Med Res Methodol. 2021 Oct 27;21(1):233. doi: 10.1186/s12874-021-01421-8.
Retaining participants over time is a frequent challenge in research studies evaluating long-term health outcomes. This study's objective was to compare the impact of prepaid and postpaid incentives on response to a six-month follow-up survey.
We conducted an experiment to compare response between participants randomized to receive either prepaid or postpaid cash card incentives within a multisite study of children under 15 years in age who were hospitalized for a serious, severe, or critical injury. Participants were parents or guardians of enrolled children. The primary outcome was survey response. We also examined whether demographic characteristics were associated with response and if incentive timing influenced the relationship between demographic characteristics and response. We evaluated whether incentive timing was associated with the number of calls needed for contact.
The study enrolled 427 children, and parents of 420 children were included in this analysis. Follow-up survey response did not differ according to the assigned treatment arm, with the percentage of parents responding to the survey being 68.1% for the prepaid incentive and 66.7% with the postpaid incentive. Likelihood of response varied by demographics. Spanish-speaking parents and parents with lower income and lower educational attainment were less likely to respond. Parents of Hispanic/Latino children and children with Medicaid insurance were also less likely to respond. We found no relationship between the assigned incentive treatment and the demographics of respondents compared to non-respondents.
Prepaid and postpaid incentives can obtain similar participation in longitudinal pediatric critical care outcomes research. Incentives alone do not ensure retention of all demographic subgroups. Strategies for improving representation of hard-to-reach populations are needed to address health disparities and ensure the generalizability of studies using these results.
在评估长期健康结果的研究中，长期留住参与者是一个常见的挑战。本研究的目的是比较预付和后付激励对六个月随访调查响应的影响。
我们在一项多地点研究中进行了一项实验，比较了在因严重、严重或危急伤住院的 15 岁以下儿童中随机分配接受预付或后付现金卡激励的参与者之间的反应。参与者为入组儿童的父母或监护人。主要结局是调查反应。我们还检查了人口统计学特征是否与反应相关，以及激励时间是否影响人口统计学特征与反应之间的关系。我们评估了激励时间是否与联系所需的电话次数有关。
该研究纳入了 427 名儿童，本分析纳入了 420 名儿童的父母。根据分配的治疗组，随访调查的反应没有差异，预付激励的父母回应调查的比例为 68.1%，后付激励的比例为 66.7%。反应的可能性因人口统计学特征而异。讲西班牙语的父母以及收入较低和教育程度较低的父母不太可能回应。西班牙裔/拉丁裔儿童的父母和拥有医疗补助保险的儿童也不太可能回应。与非回应者相比，我们没有发现分配的激励治疗与回应者的人口统计学特征之间存在关系。
预付和后付激励可以获得类似的参与度，从而进行儿科危重病结局研究的纵向研究。仅激励措施并不能确保所有人口统计学亚组的保留。需要制定改善难以接触人群代表性的策略，以解决健康差距问题，并确保使用这些结果的研究具有普遍性。
