State Hygienic Laboratory, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
Systems and Synthetic Biology Innovation Hub, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
BMC Med Res Methodol. 2024 Feb 28;24(1):53. doi: 10.1186/s12874-024-02165-x.
Public health initiatives, including human biomonitoring, have been impacted by unique challenges since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, compounding a decades-long trend of declining public participation. To combat low public participation rates, public health professionals often employ extensive engagement approaches including in-person interactions related to enrollment and sampling, success of which is an essential component of a statistically defensible study. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged public health programs to diversify engagement and sampling approaches, limiting direct interactions for the health and safety of the population. This study explores biomonitoring recruitment strategies through non-contact mechanisms and evaluate the application feasibility for population-based studies.
The Iowa Biomonitoring Program at the State Hygienic Laboratory developed a human biomonitoring study that utilized a multifaceted, distance-based approach. Traditional techniques, such as mailed recruitment invitations and phone-based discussions, were coupled with internet-based surveys and self-collected, shipped urine and water samples. Participation rates were evaluated by employing different mailing methods, and the demographics of enrolled participants were examined.
This non-human contact approach achieved a nearly 14% participation rate among a rural population, well above our target rates. Our improved mailing strategy for targeting initially unresponsive participants yielded a significantly increase in the participation rates. The respondents were predominantly individuals with educational attainment of at least high school level. Among all the eligible participants, 83% submitted self-collected samples, a rate comparable to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey which involved in-person interviews.
The practice of engaging a rural population during the COVID-19 pandemic by transitioning from face-to-face interactions to a combination of mailing and internet-based approaches resulted in higher-than-expected participant recruitment and sample collection rates. Given the declining trend in the response rates for population-based survey studies, our results suggest conducting human biomonitoring without direct human interaction is feasible, which provides further opportunity to improve response rates and the relevance and reach of public health initiatives.
自 COVID-19 大流行以来，公共卫生举措，包括人体生物监测，受到了独特挑战的影响，使参与度下降这一数十年来的趋势更加恶化。为了应对公众参与率低的问题，公共卫生专业人员通常采用广泛的参与方法，包括与入组和采样相关的面对面互动，这些方法的成功是统计学上可辩护的研究的一个重要组成部分。COVID-19 大流行的爆发使公共卫生计划面临多样化参与和采样方法的挑战，为了公众的健康和安全限制了直接互动。本研究通过非接触机制探索生物监测招募策略，并评估其在基于人群的研究中的应用可行性。
州卫生实验室的爱荷华州生物监测计划开发了一项人体生物监测研究，该研究采用了多方面的、基于距离的方法。传统技术，如邮寄招募邀请和基于电话的讨论，与基于互联网的调查和自我采集、邮寄尿液和水样相结合。通过采用不同的邮寄方法来评估参与率，并检查入组参与者的人口统计学特征。
这种非接触方法在农村人口中实现了近 14%的参与率，远高于我们的目标率。我们改进的针对最初无反应参与者的邮寄策略显著提高了参与率。受访者主要是至少受过高中教育的个人。在所有符合条件的参与者中，83%的人提交了自我采集的样本，这一比例与涉及面对面访谈的国家健康和营养检查调查相当。
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，通过从面对面互动过渡到邮寄和基于互联网的方法相结合，与农村人口接触，导致参与者招募和样本收集率高于预期。鉴于基于人群的调查研究的回复率呈下降趋势，我们的研究结果表明，无需直接人际互动即可进行人体生物监测是可行的，这为提高回复率以及公共卫生举措的相关性和覆盖面提供了进一步的机会。
