Utility of telephone survey methods in population-based health studies of older adults: an example from the Alberta Older Adult Health Behavior (ALERT) study

BMC Public Health

Steven T Johnson⁵  Gillian Stevens¹  Lorian M Taylor³  Paul A Gardiner⁴  Dean T Eurich²  Jeff K Vallance⁵ 

[1] Department of Sociology, Population Research Laboratory, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada;School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada;Nutrition Services, Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, AB, Canada;Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Research, School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;Faculty of Health Disciplines, Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB, Canada

关键词: Older adults;    Response rate;    Random digit dialing;    Computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI);    Health behavior;   

Others  :  1130446
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-14-486

 received in 2013-11-22, accepted in 2014-05-06,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Random digit dialing is often used in public health research initiatives to accrue and establish a study sample; however few studies have fully described the utility of this approach. The primary objective of this paper was to describe the implementation and utility of using random digit dialing and Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) for sampling, recruitment and data collection in a large population-based study of older adults [Alberta Older Adult Health Behavior (ALERT) study].

Methods

Using random digit dialing, older adults (> = 55 years) completed health behavior and outcome and demographic measures via CATI. After completing the CATI, participants were invited to receive a step pedometer and waist circumference tape measure via mail to gather objectively derived ambulatory activity and waist circumference assessments.

Results

Overall, 36,000 telephone numbers were called of which 7,013 were deemed eligible for the study. Of those, 4,913 (70.1%) refused to participate in the study and 804 (11.4%) participants were not included due to a variety of call dispositions (e.g., difficult to reach, full quota for region). A total of 1,296 participants completed telephone interviews (18.5% of those eligible and 3.6% of all individuals approached). Overall, 22.8% of households did not have an age 55+ resident and 13.6% of individuals refused to participate, Average age was 66.5 years, and 43% were male. A total of 1,081 participants (83.4%) also submitted self-measured ambulatory activity (i.e., via step pedometer) and anthropometric data (i.e., waist circumference). With the exception of income (18.7%), the rate of missing data for demographics, health behaviors, and health measures was minimal (<1%).

Conclusions

Older adults are willing to participate in telephone-based health surveys when randomly contacted. Researchers can use this information to evaluate the feasibility and the logistics of planned studies using a similar population and study design.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Vallance et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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