Phone Calls to Retain Research Participants and Determinants of Reachability in an African Setting: Observational Study

Background: Long-term retention of research participants in studies is challenging. In research in sub-Saharan Africa, phone calls are the most frequently used method to distantly engage with participants. Objective: We aimed to get insight into the effectiveness of phone calls to retain contact wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:JMIR formative research 2020-09, Vol.4 (9), p.e19138-e19138
Main Authors: Draaijer, Melvin, Lalla-Edward, Samanta Tresha, Venter, Willem Daniel Francois, Vos, Alinda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antiretroviral drugs
Cellular telephones
Consent
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
Labeling
Observational studies
Original Paper
Questionnaires
Statistical analysis
Telemedicine
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Summary:Background: Long-term retention of research participants in studies is challenging. In research in sub-Saharan Africa, phone calls are the most frequently used method to distantly engage with participants. Objective: We aimed to get insight into the effectiveness of phone calls to retain contact with participants and evaluated determinants of reachability. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed using the databases of two randomized controlled trials investigating different kinds of antiretroviral therapy in HIV-positive patients. One trial finished in 2018 (study 1), and the other finished in 2015 (study 2). A random sample size of 200 participants per study was obtained. There were up to 3 phone numbers available per participant collected during the studies. Participants received a maximum of 3 phone calls on every available number on different days and at different times. Voicemails were left, and emails sent wherever possible. We documented how many calls were answered, who answered, as well as after how many attempts participants were reached. To further increase our understanding of reachability, we conducted a short questionnaire assessing factors contributing to reachability. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa (reference number M1811107). Results: In our sample size of n=200 per study, study 1, with a median time of 11 months since the last visit at the research site, had a response rate of 70.5% (141/200) participants while study 2, with a median duration of 55 months since the last visit, had a response rate of 50.0% (100/200; P
ISSN:2561-326X
2561-326X
DOI:10.2196/19138