Do Noncontingent Incentives Increase Survey Response Rates among Mental Health Providers? A Randomized Trial Comparison

Surveys can be a useful tool for mental health services research. Unfortunately, clinicians typically show low response rates to surveys. To determine whether noncontingent incentives would increase responses among clinicians, we compared no incentive versus four incentives (mood magnet, $1, $2, $5)...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Administration and policy in mental health and mental health services research 2009-09, Vol.36 (5), p.343-348
Main Authors: Hawley, Kristin M., Cook, Jonathan R., Jensen-Doss, Amanda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clinical Psychology
Cost effectiveness
Design techniques
Health Administration
Health Informatics
Health services
Health Services Research - methods
Humans
Incentives
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental health
Mental health care
Mental health services
Mental Health Services - organization & administration
Methods
Monetary incentives
Original Paper
Professionals
Psychiatry
Public Health
Reproducibility of Results
Research Design
Response rate
Response rates
Selfreport
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:Surveys can be a useful tool for mental health services research. Unfortunately, clinicians typically show low response rates to surveys. To determine whether noncontingent incentives would increase responses among clinicians, we compared no incentive versus four incentives (mood magnet, $1, $2, $5) on response to a 7-page self-report survey of mental health assessment and treatment practices in a sample of 500 clinicians from the 5 largest professional guilds. Noncontingent monetary incentives significantly increased response rate compared to no incentive across all disciplines. Noncontingent monetary incentives are discussed as a cost-effective method for increasing survey response rate among mental health clinicians.
ISSN:0894-587X
1573-3289
DOI:10.1007/s10488-009-0225-z