Abstract
BackgroundWith health research practices shifting toward rapid recruitment of samples through the use of online approaches, little is known about the impact of these recruitment methods on continued participation in cohort studies.ObjectiveThis study aimed to report on the retention of a cohort of young women who were recruited using an open recruitment strategy.MethodsWomen from the 1989-95 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health, recruited in 2012 and 2013 were followed up annually via Web-based surveys in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Prevalence ratios for survey response were calculated using log-binomial models with generalized estimating equations including demographic, health-related, and recruitment method characteristics examined as explanatory factors.ResultsOf the 17,012 women who completed the baseline survey (Survey 1) in 2012 to 2013, approximately two-thirds completed Survey 2 (2014), and just over half completed Surveys 3 (2015) and 4 (2016). Women demonstrated transient patterns of responding with 38.21% (6501/17,012) of women completing all 4 surveys. Although retention of young women was associated with older age, higher education, higher self-rated health status, and low engagement with adverse health behaviors, the method of recruitment was a key determinant of study participation in the multivariate model. Although women were more likely to be recruited into the cohort via social media (eg, Facebook), retention over time was higher for women recruited through traditional media and referral approaches.ConclusionsA balance must be obtained between achieving representativeness, achieving rapid cohort recruitment, and mitigating the pitfalls of attrition based on recruitment method in the new era of cohort studies, where traditional recruitment methods are no longer exclusively viable options.
Highlights
Participation in epidemiologic studies has been declining over the past 30 years
As internet-based research increases, it is important to understand what leads participants to return to a Web-based survey and what biases might be introduced by the disparities between those who return and those who do not, for young people who are notoriously hard to engage in longitudinal health research [1,2]
This study aimed to provide an understanding of what factors influence longitudinal study retention rates for young people recruited through an open recruitment strategy
Summary
Participation in epidemiologic studies has been declining over the past 30 years. This has been attributed to declining volunteerism, the proliferation of market research studies, perceived irrelevance, and increased demands on participant involvement [1]. Together with the changing technological landscape and shift toward digital communication practices, this has led to innovative approaches to participant recruitment that take advantage of online recruitment through social media advertising and blog-seeding [2,3,4] These techniques might be successful in recruiting participants to a single study [2,5], little is known about the impact of these recruitment techniques on participant retention in cohort studies. With health research practices shifting toward rapid recruitment of samples through the use of online approaches, little is known about the impact of these recruitment methods on continued participation in cohort studies. Conclusions: A balance must be obtained between achieving representativeness, achieving rapid cohort recruitment, and mitigating the pitfalls of attrition based on recruitment method in the new era of cohort studies, where traditional recruitment methods are no longer exclusively viable options
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