Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2023 Apr 11;18(4):e0284192. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284192. eCollection 2023.
All longitudinal cohort studies strive for high participant retention, although attrition is common. Understanding determinants of attrition is important to inform and develop targeted strategies to improve study participation. We aimed to identify factors associated with research participation in a large children's primary care cohort study.
In this longitudinal cohort study between 2008 and 2020, all children who participated in the Applied Research Group for Kids (TARGet Kids!) were included. TARGet Kids! is a large primary care practice-based pediatric research network in Canada with ongoing data collection at well-child visits. Several sociodemographic, health, and study design factors were examined for their associations with research participation. The primary outcome was attendance of eligible research follow-up visits. The secondary outcome was time to withdrawal from the TARGet Kids! study. Generalized linear mixed effects models and Cox proportional hazard models were fitted. We have engaged parent partners in all stages of this study.
A total 10,412 children with 62,655 total eligible research follow-up visits were included. Mean age at enrolment was 22 months, 52% were male, and 52% had mothers of European ethnicity. 68.4% of the participants attended at least 1 research follow-up visit. Since 2008, 6.4% of the participants have submitted a withdrawal request. Key factors associated with research participation included child age, ethnicity, maternal age, maternal education level, family income, parental employment, child diagnosis of chronic health conditions, certain study sites, and missingness in questionnaire data.
Socioeconomic status, demographic factors, chronic conditions, and missingness in questionnaire data were associated with research participation in this large primary care practice-based cohort study of children. Results from this analysis and input from our parent partners suggested that retention strategies could include continued parent engagement, creating brand identity and communication tools, using multiple languages and avoiding redundancy in the questionnaires.
所有纵向队列研究都努力实现高参与者保留率，尽管失访很常见。了解失访的决定因素对于提供信息和制定有针对性的策略以提高研究参与度很重要。我们旨在确定与大型儿童初级保健队列研究中研究参与相关的因素。
在这项 2008 年至 2020 年期间进行的纵向队列研究中，纳入了所有参加应用研究小组（TARGet Kids！）的儿童。TARGet Kids！是加拿大一个大型的基于初级保健的儿科研究网络，在定期的儿童健康检查中进行持续的数据收集。检查了几个社会人口统计学、健康和研究设计因素与研究参与的关联。主要结果是参加合格的研究随访。次要结果是从 TARGet Kids！研究中退出的时间。拟合了广义线性混合效应模型和 Cox 比例风险模型。我们已经让家长合作伙伴参与了这项研究的所有阶段。
共纳入 10412 名儿童，共有 62655 次合格的研究随访。入组时的平均年龄为 22 个月，52%为男性，52%的母亲为欧洲裔。68.4%的参与者至少参加了一次研究随访。自 2008 年以来，6.4%的参与者已提交退出请求。与研究参与相关的关键因素包括儿童年龄、种族、母亲年龄、母亲教育程度、家庭收入、父母就业、儿童慢性健康状况诊断、某些研究地点以及问卷数据缺失。
社会经济地位、人口统计学因素、慢性疾病和问卷数据缺失与这项针对儿童的大型初级保健实践队列研究中的研究参与相关。这项分析的结果和我们家长合作伙伴的意见表明，保留策略可以包括继续与家长保持联系、建立品牌形象和沟通工具、使用多种语言和避免问卷重复。
