Piloting a computer assisted telephone interview: the FUCHSIA Women’s Study

BMC Women's Health

Research Article

Ann C Mertens¹  Helen B Chin²  Jessica H Knight²  Candice Y Johnson²  Jill J Woodard²  Konny H Kim²  Penelope P Howards²  Regina M Simeone²  Pamela J Mink³ 

[1] Aflac Cancer Center, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, 2015 Uppergate Road, 30322, Atlanta, GA, USA;Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road NE, CNR 3rd Floor, 30322, Atlanta, GA, USA;Division of Applied Research, Allina Health, Mail Route 10039, 2925 Chicago Ave S, 55407, Minneapolis, MN, USA;

关键词: Pilot testing;    Telephone interview;    Recruitment;    Survivorship;    Cancer;    Fertility;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12905-014-0149-y

 received in 2014-02-04, accepted in 2014-11-10,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundLoss of fertility has been reported as an important concern of reproductive age women diagnosed with cancer. The Furthering Understanding of Cancer, Health, and Survivorship In Adult (FUCHSIA) Women’s Study examines how cancer treatment affects the fertility of cancer survivors who were diagnosed during their reproductive years. In this paper we discuss the process of developing and pilot testing the FUCHSIA computer assisted telephone interview (CATI).MethodsThe CATI was developed in several phases and pilot tested twice to evaluate several aspects of the instrument including question sequencing, understandability of the questions, and women’s comfort with certain questions. Participants were recruited from cancer and infertility support groups and study team contacts.ResultsFifty-two women were recruited and participated in the first pilot. The participants had a mean age of 31.5 years, 17.3% had cancer, and 38.5% experienced a period of infertility. Twenty-four women participated in the second pilot with similar representation.ConclusionsThe collection of detailed information on reproductive outcomes with the CATI may improve the understanding of how cancer treatment during the reproductive years affects female fertility. The pilot studies provided important information to improve the CATI before the full study. Our comprehensive recruitment strategy allowed us to interview a diverse group of women to ensure that questions and answer choices were easily interpreted, check complicated skip patterns and the flow of questions, and evaluate the length of the interview. This experience can be used to help inform others in what steps can be useful for developing telephone interviews for research studies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Chin et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014