Cottler L B, Zipp J F, Robins L N, Spitznagel E L
Am J Epidemiol. 1987 Feb;125(2):329-39. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114534.
Generous contact efforts were used to recruit 3,004 respondents into the first wave of the St. Louis Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) project, a psychiatric epidemiologic study of the general population, conducted from 1981-1982. These efforts were analyzed to establish which sociodemographic characteristics or current psychiatric disorders were determinants of difficulty in recruitment. Being young, male, black, a nonrural resident, educated, and full-time employed were the demographic characteristics associated with increased contact efforts. Persons currently meeting criteria for an alcohol disorder required almost 20% more contact attempts than those without the disorder; this difficulty lay both in their being less available for an initial contact and refusing at a higher rate once contacted. An optimal recruitment effort cutoff point is provided, and a method is suggested for detecting that optimal point in the course of ongoing studies.
为了招募3004名受访者参与圣路易斯流行病学集水区（ECA）项目的第一阶段研究，研究人员付出了巨大的努力。该项目是一项针对普通人群的精神疾病流行病学研究，于1981年至1982年进行。研究人员对这些努力进行了分析，以确定哪些社会人口统计学特征或当前的精神疾病是招募困难的决定因素。年轻、男性、黑人、非农村居民、受过教育且全职工作是与增加接触努力相关的人口统计学特征。目前符合酒精障碍标准的人比没有该障碍的人需要多近20%的接触尝试；这种困难既在于他们初次接触时较难找到，也在于一旦被接触，拒绝率较高。本文提供了一个最佳招募努力的临界点，并提出了一种在正在进行的研究过程中检测该最佳点的方法。
