West J C, Zarin D A, Peterson B D, Pincus H A
Office of Research, American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC 20005, USA.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1998 Dec;33(12):620-3. doi: 10.1007/s001270050102.
This study tested the feasibility of recruiting and retaining a randomly selected sample of psychiatrists compared to a volunteer sample to participate in the American Psychiatric Association's Practice Research Network (PRN). One hundred-forty psychiatrists were randomly selected and contacted by phone by peer psychiatrists for recruitment into the PRN. As a comparison group, a sample of 146 self-selected volunteer psychiatrists were also included in the study. Recruited and volunteer psychiatrists were asked to participate in three studies to assess study compliance and retention. The representativeness of each sample was evaluated by comparing the psychiatrists' sociodemographic and practice characteristics to existing national data on psychiatrists. Study response rates and long-term retention rates were compared for the two groups. Sixty-one percent of the recruited sample who were eligible to participate in the network were willing to participate. Both the recruited and volunteer samples were broadly representative of the American Psychiatric Association's membership (with some differences in race, ethnicity and board certification). Of the recruited sample, 74.5% (38/51) successfully completed the network's first three pilot studies compared to 72.5% (98/135) of the volunteer sample. No psychiatrists in the recruited sample withdrew from the network compared to 2.1% (3/138) of the volunteer sample. These findings indicate a randomly selected sample of psychiatrists can be recruited and retained to participate in practice-based research. These methods can be used to enhance the generalizability of observational health services research studies, which require the participation of practicing clinicians. More effective methods should be tested to enhance participation rates.
本研究测试了与志愿者样本相比，招募并留住随机抽取的精神科医生样本以参与美国精神病学协会实践研究网络（PRN）的可行性。140名精神科医生被随机抽取，由同行精神科医生通过电话联系，招募其加入PRN。作为对照组，146名自行选择的志愿者精神科医生样本也被纳入研究。招募的精神科医生和志愿者精神科医生被要求参与三项研究，以评估研究依从性和留存率。通过将精神科医生的社会人口统计学和执业特征与现有的全国精神科医生数据进行比较，评估每个样本的代表性。比较两组的研究回应率和长期留存率。有资格参与该网络的招募样本中，61%愿意参与。招募样本和志愿者样本在很大程度上都代表了美国精神病学协会的会员（在种族、族裔和委员会认证方面存在一些差异）。在招募样本中，74.5%（38/51）成功完成了该网络的前三项试点研究，而志愿者样本的这一比例为72.5%（98/135）。招募样本中没有精神科医生退出该网络，而志愿者样本中有2.1%（3/138）退出。这些发现表明，可以招募并留住随机抽取的精神科医生样本以参与基于实践的研究。这些方法可用于提高观察性健康服务研究的普遍性，这类研究需要执业临床医生的参与。应测试更有效的方法以提高参与率。
