The Development of an Interactive Voice Response Survey for Noncommunicable Disease Risk Factor Estimation: Technical Assessment and Cognitive Testing.

Dustin G Gibson,Alain B Labrique,George William Pariyo,Brooke A Farrenkopf,Amanda Pereira

doi:10.2196/jmir.7340

Abstract

BackgroundThe rise in mobile phone ownership in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) presents an opportunity to transform existing data collection and surveillance methods. Administering surveys via interactive voice response (IVR) technology—a mobile phone survey (MPS) method—has potential to expand the current surveillance coverage and data collection, but formative work to contextualize the survey for LMIC deployment is needed.ObjectiveThe primary objectives of this study were to (1) cognitively test and identify challenging questions in a noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk factor questionnaire administered via an IVR platform and (2) assess the usability of the IVR platform.MethodsWe conducted two rounds of pilot testing the IVR survey in Baltimore, MD. Participants were included in the study if they identified as being from an LMIC. The first round included individual interviews to cognitively test the participant’s understanding of the questions. In the second round, participants unique from those in round 1 were placed in focus groups and were asked to comment on the usability of the IVR platform.ResultsA total of 12 participants from LMICs were cognitively tested in round 1 to assess their understanding and comprehension of questions in an IVR-administered survey. Overall, the participants found that the majority of the questions were easy to understand and did not have difficulty recording most answers. The most frequent recommendation was to use country-specific examples and units of measurement. In round 2, a separate set of 12 participants assessed the usability of the IVR platform. Overall, participants felt that the length of the survey was appropriate (average: 18 min and 31 s), but the majority reported fatigue in answering questions that had a similar question structure. Almost all participants commented that they thought an IVR survey would lead to more honest, accurate responses than face-to-face questionnaires, especially for sensitive topics.ConclusionsOverall, the participants indicated a clear comprehension of the IVR-administered questionnaire and that the IVR platform was user-friendly. Formative research and cognitive testing of the questionnaire is needed for further adaptation before deploying in an LMIC.

Highlights

You can hear a question again at any time by pressing the STAR button - located to the left of the ZERO at the bottom of your phone
23 BP and Have you EVER been told by a doctor or other health worker that you have raised or Diabetes high blood pressure or that you have hypertension? If YES, press 1
25 BP and Have you EVER been told by a doctor or other health worker that you have raised or Diabetes high blood sugar or that you have diabetes? If YES, press 1

Summary

Introduction

Please move to a quiet location, if you can, and press 1 to continue the interview. I would like to ask you about smoking tobacco, including cigarettes, cigars and pipes. You can press the * key for any question that you need to have repeated. I would like to learn more about the foods that you eat. On how many days do you eat vegetables? A serving of vegetables is about a cup of green leafy vegetables or salad or half a cup of cooked or chopped vegetables How many of these servings of vegetables do you eat on one of those days? I would like to learn more about the salt you eat. As a reminder you can press the * key for any question that you need to have repeated and you can press 0to skip any question you prefer not to answer.

BP and Diabetes

Physical Activity