Abstract
BackgroundLongitudinal follow-up of older persons living with HIV is essential for the ascertainment of aging-related clinical and behavioral outcomes, and self-administered questionnaires are necessary for collecting behavioral information in research involving persons living with HIV. Web-based self-reported data collection results in higher data quality than paper-and-pencil questionnaires in a wide range of populations. The option of remote web-based surveys may also increase retention in long-term research studies. However, the acceptability and feasibility of web-based data collection in clinical research involving older persons living with HIV have never been studied.ObjectiveThis study aims to assess the acceptability and feasibility of a web-based survey to collect information on sexual, substance use, and physical activity behaviors; compare the data quality of the web-based survey with that of a paper-and-pencil questionnaire; and summarize web-based survey metrics.MethodsThis pilot study took place within the AIDS Clinical Trials Group A5322 study, a longitudinal cohort of men and women living with HIV (aged ≥40 years), followed at 32 clinical sites in the United States and Puerto Rico. A total of 4 sites participated in this study. A web-based survey was created using self-administered questionnaires typically completed in A5322 via paper and pencil. Pilot study participants completed these questionnaires via web-based survey at one research visit in lieu of paper-and-pencil administration. Two questions were added to assess feasibility, defined as participants’ perception of the ease of web-based survey completion (very hard, hard, easy, very easy), and their preferred format (computer or tablet, paper and pencil, no preference) for completing the questions in the future (acceptability). Feasibility and acceptability were summarized overall and by demographic and clinical characteristics; the proportion of evaluable data by web-based survey versus previously administered paper-and-pencil questionnaires (data quality) was compared for each question.ResultsAcceptability and feasibility were high overall: 50.0% (79/158) preferred computer or tablet, 38.0% (60/158) reported no preference, and 12.0% (19/158) preferred paper and pencil; 93.0% (147/158) reported survey completion easy or very easy. Older age was associated with lower odds of preferring computer or tablet to paper and pencil (odds ratio per 1-year increase in age: 0.91, 95% CI 0.85-0.98). Individuals who found the survey hard or very hard had a lower median neurocognitive test score than those who found it easy or very easy. Data quality with web-based survey administration was similar to or higher than that with paper-and-pencil administration for most questions.ConclusionsWeb-based survey administration was acceptable and feasible in this cohort of older adults living with HIV, and data quality was high. Web-based surveys can be a useful tool for valid data collection and can potentially improve retention in long-term follow-up studies.
Highlights
Maintaining sustained research participation is a critical challenge for longitudinal epidemiologic studies [1,2]
This pilot study took place within the AIDS Clinical Trials Group A5322 study, a longitudinal cohort of men and women living with HIV, followed at 32 clinical sites in the United States and Puerto Rico
Pilot study participants completed these questionnaires via web-based survey at one research visit in lieu of paper-and-pencil administration
Summary
Maintaining sustained research participation is a critical challenge for longitudinal epidemiologic studies [1,2]. Data completeness has been shown to be superior with web-based versus paper-and-pencil data collection [4], and data entry keying errors are reduced because this process is automated [5] To achieve these data quality advantages, surveys must be perceived by study participants as acceptable and easy to complete. This is true with older study participants, who may not be comfortable or familiar with web-based technologies. To our knowledge, few studies have assessed the feasibility, acceptability, and data quality of web-based technologies for clinical research with older persons living with HIV [15], who may be living with physical and neurocognitive deficits because of their long-term HIV infection [16,17,18,19,20]. The acceptability and feasibility of web-based data collection in clinical research involving older persons living with HIV have never been studied
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