Repeated attempts using different strategies are important for timely contact with study participants

• Published in: Journal of clinical epidemiology 2011-10, Vol.64 (10), p.1144-1151
• Main Authors: Chen, Kuan-Fu, Colantuoni, Elizabeth, Siddiqi, Faisal, Dinglas, Victor D, Sepulveda, Kristin A, Fan, Eddy, Pronovost, Peter J, Needham, Dale M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Clinical trials; Clinical Trials as Topic - methods; Cohort studies; Confidence intervals; Epidemiology; Fatigue; Female; Humans; Internal Medicine; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Mortality; Patient participation; Patient Selection; Pneumology; Postal Service; Proportional Hazards Models; Prospective Studies; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Randomized controlled trial; Regression analysis; Respiratory distress syndrome; Respiratory distress syndrome, adult; Respiratory system : syndromes and miscellaneous diseases; Risk factors; Studies; Telephone; Time Factors
• ISSN: 0895-4356; 1878-5921
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2010.08.007

Abstract Objective To study the effect of different mail- and phone-based strategies, along with patient- and research-related factors, on the time to contact with research participants. Study Design and Setting A prospective evaluation of a 12-week standardized protocol (embedded with two randomized trials of mail- and phone-based strategies) for contacting existing research participants for recruitment into a related study. Results Of 146 participants, 87 were eligible for contact via the standardized protocol, and 63 (72%) of these were successfully contacted within 12 weeks after multiple mail- and phone-based efforts. Using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, the different mail and phone strategies showed no significant difference in the time to contact with participants. Of 34 patient- and research-related factors evaluated, only two were independently associated with time to contact among all 146 participants: (1) participants having their last visit conducted outside of the research clinic because of patient illness/condition had a longer time to contact and (2) those with a self-reported chronic fatigue history had a shorter time to contact. Conclusion Few patient characteristics and research-related factors accurately predict time to contact. Repeated attempts using different strategies are important for successful and timely contact with study participants.