Fuemmeler Bernard F, Miller Carrie A, Barsell D Jeremy, Shokouhi Sepideh, Montgomery Aisha, Wheeler David C, Kim Sunny Jung, Dahman Bassam, Winn Robert
Department of Family Medicine & Population Health, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA.
Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, Richmond, VA, USA.
Prev Oncol Epidemiol. 2024;2(1). doi: 10.1080/28322134.2024.2367994. Epub 2024 Jun 27.
The Together for Health-Virginia (T4H-VA) Research Program aimed to advance cancer prevention, education, and outreach in Virginia. Creating a representative and inclusive cohort is critical to the program's mission and quality of outcomes. The T4H-VA Research Program utilized a multi-modal sampling approach to improve population health assessment. The current study describes the technology-based, non-probability platform developed for this purpose and compares differences between the probability-based (mail-based) and non-probability-based (e-cohort) methods with respect to participant demographics, health characteristics, and health information and technology use.
T4H-VA is a research registry focusing on 54 counties within the Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center (MCCC) catchment area in Richmond, VA. Adult residents proficient in English were eligible. For the probability-based sampling, surveys were mailed to residents within the catchment area. For the non-probability sampling, an online study platform was developed and surveys were completed through the web/mobile app.
Both cohorts fell short of recruitment goals. The study yielded 1158 participants (M=57, SD=16 years; 55.0% female; 72.1% White); 899 (77.6%) were sampled through the probability, mail-based approach. Participants who identified as "other" race were significantly less likely to be sampled by the non-probability method. Significant differences emerged, including health protective (greater moderate and high physical activity) and risk factors (greater alcohol consumption and personal history of cancer) in the non-probability, e-cohort relative to the probability sample. E-Cohort participants were significantly more likely to report using electronic health records.
Overall difficulties in recruiting were caused, at least in part, by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related factors. The e-cohort, which used exclusively digital recruitment strategies, fell significantly short of recruitment goals. This suggests in-person and mail-based strategies remain important for recruitment. Moreover, instead of favoring a singular approach, a combined approach to survey sampling may capitalize on the strengths of each sampling mode to increase diversity in sociodemographic and health risk characteristics.
弗吉尼亚州健康同行研究项目（T4H-VA）旨在推进弗吉尼亚州的癌症预防、教育及推广工作。建立一个具有代表性且包容性强的队列对于该项目的使命及成果质量至关重要。T4H-VA研究项目采用了多模式抽样方法来改善人群健康评估。本研究描述了为此目的开发的基于技术的非概率平台，并比较了基于概率（邮寄）和非概率（电子队列）方法在参与者人口统计学特征、健康特征以及健康信息和技术使用方面的差异。
T4H-VA是一个研究登记处，聚焦于弗吉尼亚州里士满市梅西综合癌症中心（MCCC）服务区域内的54个县。精通英语的成年居民符合条件。对于基于概率的抽样，向服务区域内的居民邮寄调查问卷。对于非概率抽样，开发了一个在线研究平台，调查问卷通过网络/移动应用程序完成。
两个队列均未达到招募目标。该研究共招募了1158名参与者（平均年龄M = 57岁，标准差SD = 16岁；55.0%为女性；72.1%为白人）；其中899名（77.6%）是通过基于概率的邮寄方式抽样的。被认定为“其他”种族的参与者通过非概率方法抽样的可能性显著更低。出现了显著差异，包括在非概率电子队列中相对于概率样本而言，具有更多健康保护因素（更多中度和高强度身体活动）和风险因素（更多饮酒及癌症个人史）。电子队列参与者报告使用电子健康记录的可能性显著更高。
招募方面的总体困难至少部分是由新冠疫情的爆发及相关因素导致的。完全采用数字招募策略的电子队列远未达到招募目标。这表明面对面和基于邮寄的策略对于招募仍然很重要。此外，调查抽样不应只青睐单一方法，采用组合方法可能会利用每种抽样模式的优势，以增加社会人口统计学和健康风险特征的多样性。
