BACKGROUND: physical activity studies in older people often have poor recruitment. Including a questionnaire with the invitation would provide information about non-participants and selection bias, but could reduce recruitment. Telephone contact might encourage participation. OBJECTIVE: to test the effects of different strategies for recruitment into a study of physical activity in older people. DESIGN: factorial randomised controlled trial. Randomisation by household into four groups: telephone contact plus questionnaire, telephone contact only, questionnaire only, neither. SETTING: primary care, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS: 560 patients > or = 65 years randomly selected after exclusions. INTERVENTIONS: questionnaire to assess health, functional ability and physical activity. Telephone contact by the research nurse a week after sending study information. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: recruitment into physical activity study. RESULTS:telephone contact increased recruitment: contact 47.9% (134/280), no contact 37.9% (106/280), difference (adjusted for the clustering effect of household) 10.0% (95% CI 0.2-19.8). Questionnaire inclusion did not significantly reduce recruitment: no questionnaire 44.3% (124/280) questionnaire 41.4% (116/280) difference -2.9% (95% CI -12.7-7.0). CONCLUSIONS: telephone contact significantly increased recruitment and should be considered in studies where recruitment may be low. While inclusion of a questionnaire provided valuable information on non-participants and did not significantly reduce recruitment, an adverse recruitment effect could not be excluded.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: physical activity studies in older people often have poor recruitment. Including a questionnaire with the invitation would provide information about non-participants and selection bias, but could reduce recruitment. Telephone contact might encourage participation. OBJECTIVE: to test the effects of different strategies for recruitment into a study of physical activity in older people. DESIGN: factorial randomised controlled trial. Randomisation by household into four groups: telephone contact plus questionnaire, telephone contact only, questionnaire only, neither. SETTING: primary care, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS: 560 patients > or = 65 years randomly selected after exclusions. INTERVENTIONS: questionnaire to assess health, functional ability and physical activity. Telephone contact by the research nurse a week after sending study information. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: recruitment into physical activity study. RESULTS: telephone contact increased recruitment: contact 47.9% (134/280), no contact 37.9% (106/280), difference (adjusted for the clustering effect of household) 10.0% (95% CI 0.2-19.8). Questionnaire inclusion did not significantly reduce recruitment: no questionnaire 44.3% (124/280) questionnaire 41.4% (116/280) difference -2.9% (95% CI -12.7-7.0). CONCLUSIONS: telephone contact significantly increased recruitment and should be considered in studies where recruitment may be low. While inclusion of a questionnaire provided valuable information on non-participants and did not significantly reduce recruitment, an adverse recruitment effect could not be excluded.
Authors: Anthony P Marsh; Laura C Lovato; Nancy W Glynn; Kimberly Kennedy; Cynthia Castro; Kathryn Domanchuk; Erica McDavitt; Ruben Rodate; Michael Marsiske; Joanne McGloin; Erik J Groessl; Marco Pahor; Jack M Guralnik Journal: J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci Date: 2013-05-28 Impact factor: 6.053
Authors: Érica Q Silva; Danilo P Santos; Raquel I Beteli; Renan L Monteiro; Jane S S P Ferreira; Ronaldo H Cruvinel-Junior; Asha Donini; Jady L Verissímo; Eneida Y Suda; Isabel C N Sacco Journal: Sci Rep Date: 2021-06-11 Impact factor: 4.379
Authors: Shaun Treweek; Pauline Lockhart; Marie Pitkethly; Jonathan A Cook; Monica Kjeldstrøm; Marit Johansen; Taina K Taskila; Frank M Sullivan; Sue Wilson; Catherine Jackson; Ritu Jones; Elizabeth D Mitchell Journal: BMJ Open Date: 2013-02-07 Impact factor: 2.692