OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of prenotification using a newsletter to increase questionnaire response rates within a randomized controlled trial (RCT). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: An RCT set within the context of the Medical Research Council's SCOOP trial of screening older women for fracture risk. RESULTS: A subsample of SCOOP participants were randomized in equal numbers to receive a newsletter approximately 6 weeks before the follow-up questionnaire or no newsletter. Of the 1,342 participants in the newsletter group, 1,291 (96.2%) returned their 24-month follow-up questionnaire compared with 1,271 of the 1,344 participants who were not allocated to receive the newsletter (94.6%). The difference of 1.6% was statistically significant (P=0.05), with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.45 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01, 2.10). The newsletter and no newsletter groups required a similar number of reminders (OR 0.88, 95% CI: 0.73, 1.06), had a similar number with a complete primary outcome (OR 0.95, 95% CI: 0.57, 1.58), and took a similar time to respond (log rank 1.30, P=0.25). CONCLUSIONS: This study supports previous research that suggests that prenotification increases survey response rate: albeit a small absolute increase. No previous study has shown this to be so within the context of patients enrolled within an RCT. Trials that use newsletters to keep their participants informed of the study's progress should use the newsletter as a prenotification device as this will increase overall response rates.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of prenotification using a newsletter to increase questionnaire response rates within a randomized controlled trial (RCT). STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: An RCT set within the context of the Medical Research Council's SCOOP trial of screening older women for fracture risk. RESULTS: A subsample of SCOOP participants were randomized in equal numbers to receive a newsletter approximately 6 weeks before the follow-up questionnaire or no newsletter. Of the 1,342 participants in the newsletter group, 1,291 (96.2%) returned their 24-month follow-up questionnaire compared with 1,271 of the 1,344 participants who were not allocated to receive the newsletter (94.6%). The difference of 1.6% was statistically significant (P=0.05), with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.45 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01, 2.10). The newsletter and no newsletter groups required a similar number of reminders (OR 0.88, 95% CI: 0.73, 1.06), had a similar number with a complete primary outcome (OR 0.95, 95% CI: 0.57, 1.58), and took a similar time to respond (log rank 1.30, P=0.25). CONCLUSIONS: This study supports previous research that suggests that prenotification increases survey response rate: albeit a small absolute increase. No previous study has shown this to be so within the context of patients enrolled within an RCT. Trials that use newsletters to keep their participants informed of the study's progress should use the newsletter as a prenotification device as this will increase overall response rates.
Authors: Stephen Brealey; Matthew Northgraves; Lucksy Kottam; Ada Keding; Belen Corbacho; Lorna Goodchild; Cynthia Srikesavan; Saleema Rex; Charalambos P Charalambous; Nigel Hanchard; Alison Armstrong; Andrew Brooksbank; Andrew Carr; Cushla Cooper; Joseph Dias; Iona Donnelly; Catherine Hewitt; Sarah E Lamb; Catriona McDaid; Gerry Richardson; Sara Rodgers; Emma Sharp; Sally Spencer; David Torgerson; Francine Toye; Amar Rangan Journal: Health Technol Assess Date: 2020-12 Impact factor: 4.014
Authors: Thomas M Gill; Joanne M McGloin; Amy Shelton; Luann M Bianco; Eleni A Skokos; Nancy K Latham; David A Ganz; Linda V Nyquist; Robert B Wallace; Martha B Carnie; Patricia C Dykes; Lori A Goehring; Margaret Doyle; Peter A Charpentier; Erich J Greene; Katy L Araujo Journal: J Am Geriatr Soc Date: 2020-03-25 Impact factor: 5.562
Authors: Lydia Flett; Joy Adamson; Elizabeth Barron; Stephen Brealey; Belen Corbacho; Matthew L Costa; Graham Gedney; Nikolaos Giotakis; Catherine Hewitt; Jessica Hugill-Jones; Deborah Hukins; Ada Keding; Catriona McDaid; Alex Mitchell; Matthew Northgraves; Grace O'Carroll; Adwoa Parker; Arabella Scantlebury; Lynne Stobbart; David Torgerson; Emma Turner; Charlie Welch; Hemant Sharma Journal: Bone Jt Open Date: 2021-03
Authors: Katie Gillies; Anna Kearney; Ciara Keenan; Shaun Treweek; Jemma Hudson; Valerie C Brueton; Thomas Conway; Andrew Hunter; Louise Murphy; Peter J Carr; Greta Rait; Paul Manson; Magaly Aceves-Martins Journal: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Date: 2021-03-06
Authors: Stephen Brealey; Alison L Armstrong; Andrew Brooksbank; Andrew Jonathan Carr; Charalambos P Charalambous; Cushla Cooper; Belen Corbacho; Joseph Dias; Iona Donnelly; Lorna Goodchild; Catherine Hewitt; Ada Keding; Lucksy Kottam; Sarah E Lamb; Catriona McDaid; Matthew Northgraves; Gerry Richardson; Sara Rodgers; Sarwat Shah; Emma Sharp; Sally Spencer; David Torgerson; Francine Toye; Amar Rangan Journal: Trials Date: 2017-12-22 Impact factor: 2.279
Authors: Joanne Woodford; Anna Wikman; Martin Cernvall; Gustaf Ljungman; Amanda Romppala; Helena Grönqvist; Louise von Essen Journal: BMJ Open Date: 2018-06-14 Impact factor: 2.692