Gift Certificate Research Articles

Mercury Exposure in Young Children Living in New York City

Residential exposure to vapor from current or previous cultural use of mercury could harm children living in rental (apartment) homes. That concern prompted the following agencies to conduct a study to assess pediatric mercury exposure in New York City communities by measuring urine mercury levels: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's (NYCDOHMH) Bureau of Environmental Surveillance and Policy, New York State Department of Health/Center for Environmental Health (NYSDOHCEH), Wadsworth Center's Biomonitoring Program/Trace Elements Laboratory (WC-TEL), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A previous study indicated that people could obtain mercury for ritualistic use from botanicas located in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx. Working closely with local community partners, we concentrated our recruiting efforts through health clinics located in potentially affected neighborhoods. We developed posters to advertise the study, conducted active outreach through local partners, and, as compensation for participation in the study, we offered a food gift certificate redeemable at a local grocer. We collected 460 urine specimens and analyzed them for total mercury. Overall, geometric mean urine total mercury was 0.31 microg mercury/l urine. One sample was 24 microg mercury/l urine, which exceeded the (20 microg mercury/l urine) NYSDOH Heavy Metal Registry reporting threshold for urine mercury exposure. Geometric mean urine mercury levels were uniformly low and did not differ by neighborhood or with any clinical significance by children's ethnicity. Few parents reported the presence of mercury at home, in a charm, or other item (e.g., skin-lightening creams and soaps), and we found no association between these potential sources of exposure and a child's urinary mercury levels. All pediatric mercury levels measured in this study were well below a level considered to be of medical concern. This study found neither self-reported nor measured evidence of significant mercury use or exposure among participating children. Because some participants were aware of the possibility that they could acquire and use mercury for cultural or ritualistic purposes, community education about the health hazards of mercury should continue.

Asymmetric Discounting in Intertemporal Choice

People are impatient and discount future rewards more when they are asked to delay consumption than when they are offered the chance to accelerate consumption. The three experiments reported here provide a process-level account for this asymmetry, with implications for designing decision environments that promote less impulsivity. In Experiment 1, a thought-listing procedure showed that people decompose discount valuation into two queries. Whether one considers delayed or accelerated receipt of a gift certificate influences the order in which memory is queried to support immediate versus delayed consumption, and the order of queries affects the relative number of patient versus impatient thoughts. Relative frequency and clustering of impatient thoughts predicts discounting and mediates the discounting asymmetry. Experiment 2 implicated query order causally: When participants listed reasons for immediate versus delayed consumption in the order used spontaneously in acceleration and delay decisions, the discounting asymmetry was replicated; reversing the order in which reasons were listed eliminated the asymmetry. The results of Experiment 3, which used an implicit-memory task, support a memory-interference account of the effect of query order.

Congratulations New Senior Members, 21 Elected in April, May and June

Many benefits accompany IEEE Senior Member status: • Professional recognition for technical and professional excellence • Fine wood and bronze engraved Senior Member plaque to proudly display • Up to $25 gift certificate toward one new Society membership • Letter of commendation to your employer, upon the request of the newly elected Senior Member • Announcement of elevation in Section/Society and/or local newsletters, newspapers and notices • Eligibility to hold executive IEEE volunteer positions • Eligibility to be Reference for Senior Member applicants • Invitation to be panelist for reviewing Senior Member applications To qualify for Senior Member elevation, a candidate must be an engineer, scientist, educator, technical executive, or originator in IEEE-designated fields. The candidate must have been in professional practice for at least ten years, and have shown significant performance over a period of at least five of those years. Three references are required to accompany the application. For more information, or to apply for Senior Membership, please see the IEEE Senior Member Program website: www.ieee.org/organizations/rab/md/smprogram.html.

Contingency Management for the Treatment of Methamphetamine Use Disorders

Theory and some preliminary evidence suggest that contingency management may be an effective treatment strategy or adjunct to psychosocial treatment for methamphetamine use disorders. An experimentally rigorous investigation on the topic was provided by a large multisite trial conducted under the auspices of the Clinical Trials Network of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The authors report data on 113 participants who were diagnosed with methamphetamine abuse or dependence. They were randomly assigned to receive 12 weeks of either treatment as usual or treatment as usual plus contingency management. Urine samples were tested for illicit drugs, and breath samples were tested for alcohol. The reinforcers for drug-negative samples were plastic chips, some of which could be exchanged for prizes. The number of plastic chips drawn increased with each week of negative samples but was reset to one after a missed or positive sample. The participants in both groups remained in treatment for equivalent times, but those receiving contingency management in addition to usual treatment submitted significantly more negative samples, and they were abstinent for a longer period of time (5 versus 3 weeks). These results suggest that contingency management has promise as a component in treatment strategies for methamphetamine use disorder.

Cochrane review: Interventions for promoting booster seat use in four to eight year olds traveling in motor vehicles

AbstractBackgroundPublic health and traffic safety agencies recommend use of booster seats in motor vehicles for children aged four to eight years, and various interventions have been implemented to increase their use by individuals who transport children in motor vehicles. There is little evidence regarding the effectiveness of these interventions, hence the need to examine what works and what does not.ObjectivesTo assess the effectiveness of interventions intended to increase acquisition and use of booster seats in motor vehicles among four to eight year olds.Search strategyWe searched the Cochrane Injuries Group's Specialized Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE (January 1966 to April 2005), EMBASE (1980 to April 2005), LILACS, Transport Research Databases (1988 to April 2005), Australian Transport Index (1976 to April 2005), additional databases and reference lists of relevant articles. We also contacted experts in the field.Selection criteriaWe included randomized and controlled before‐and‐after trials that investigated the effects of interventions to promote booster seat use.Data collection and analysisTwo authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. Study authors were contacted for additional information.Main resultsFive studies involving 3,070 individuals met the criteria for inclusion in the meta‐analysis. All interventions for promoting use of booster seats among 4 to 8 year olds demonstrated a positive effect (relative risk (RR) 1.43; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.05 to 1.96). Incentives combined with education demonstrated a beneficial effect (RR 1.32, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.55; n = 1,898). Distribution of free booster seats combined with education also had a beneficial effect (RR 2.34; 95% CI 1.50 to 3.63; n = 380) as did education‐only interventions (RR 1.32; 95% CI 1.16 to 1.49; n = 563). One study which evaluated enforcement of booster seat law met the criteria for inclusion in the meta‐analysis, but demonstrated no marked beneficial effect.Authors' conclusionsAvailable evidence suggests that interventions to increase use of booster seats among children age four to eight years are effective. Combining incentives (booster seat discount coupons or gift certificates) or distribution of free booster seats with education demonstrated marked beneficial outcomes for acquisition and use of booster seats for four to eight year olds. There is some evidence of beneficial effect of legislation on acquisition and use of booster seats but this was mainly from uncontrolled before‐and‐after studies, which did not meet the criteria for inclusion in the meta‐analysis.Plain language summaryInterventions for promoting the use of booster seats in four to eight year olds traveling in motor vehicles: how effective are they?Booster seats are designed for use by children aged four to eight years, while traveling in motor vehicles. They aim to raise the child off the vehicle seat so that the adult seat belt fits correctly and the child can travel in greater comfort and safety. Public health and traffic safety agencies recommend the use of booster seats in children until the vehicle seatbelt fits properly; typically when the child is at least 58 inches tall, has a sitting height of 29 inches and weighs about 80 pounds.In children aged four to seven years, booster seats are estimated to reduce the odds of sustaining clinically significant injuries during a crash by 59%, when compared to using ordinary vehicle seatbelts. Despite the evidence of effectiveness, many children are not restrained in age‐appropriate booster seats.In light of the strong evidence for the safety benefits of booster seats, interventions specifically aimed at promoting their use have been implemented. To evaluate the effectiveness of such interventions, the authors of this systematic review examined all high quality trials investigating their effect on acquisition and use of booster seats.The authors found five studies involving a total of 3,070 participants. All interventions investigated by the studies were found to increase the use of booster seats, compared to the group receiving no intervention. The distribution of free booster seats combined with education on their use, had a marked beneficial effect, as did incentives (for example, booster seat discount coupons or gift certificates) combined with education. Education‐only interventions also produced beneficial outcomes. One of the studies evaluated the effectiveness of the enforcement of a booster seat law, but did not detect an effect on usage.The authors concluded that the current evidence suggests that several types of interventions aimed at increasing the use of booster seats among children aged four to eight years, are effective. However, there is still a need for further high quality trials, especially those conducted outside of the USA and Australia, where current research dominates.

Perioperative Factors That Affect Long-Term Adjustment to an Incontinent Ostomy

We sought to identify perioperative factors associated with long-term adjustment to an incontinent ostomy. The Ostomy Adjustment Scale (OAS), a demographic form, and a $5 gift certificate were mailed to 200 ostomates. Associations between items from the Survey of Perioperative Factors of Ostomy Adjustment, demographic forms, and total OAS scores were assessed using bivariate and multiple linear regression analysis. The survey response rate was 74%. About half (70/146, 49%) of the respondents were women, 99% (144/145) were Caucasian, and 74% (109/146) were married. Their mean age was 65+/-14 years. Fifty-six percent (79/141) of the respondents had an ileostomy, 28% (39/141) had a colostomy, and 15% (21/141) had a urostomy. The mean OAS score for all the respondents was 159.5+/-26.2, indicating a good overall adjustment to an incontinent ostomy. In bivariate analyses, the factor associated with a lower OAS score indicating poorer adjustment was distress related to affording and obtaining ostomy supplies. The more helpful the ostomates found the preoperative education provided by a wound, ostomy, and continence specialist nurse, the better was their adjustment as indicated by a higher OAS score. Having ongoing/recurrent illness and having an ostomy created by a specialty surgeon were also associated with better adjustment. When multiple factors were considered in a stepwise regression analysis, adjustment was lowered by distress about obtaining ostomy supplies. Adjustment was improved when preoperative education provided by a wound, ostomy, and continence specialist nurse was considered helpful for the ongoing/ recurrent illness. Many ostomates have a good long-term adjustment to ostomy surgery and value education provided by a wound, ostomy, and continence nurse. Perioperative patient education and addressing patient distress over obtaining supplies are areas that can benefit from wound, ostomy, and continence nurse intervention.

Healthcare Worker Participation in Influenza Vaccination

ISSUE: Influenza outbreaks in long-term care can be devastating, not only to patients but to staffing. Our goal was to increase the number of healthcare workers that would receive the influenza vaccination, from the previous year, to protect patients, reduce staff illness and absenteeism during influenza season, and reduce the spread of influenza to and from healthcare workers and patients. In previous years our staff influenza vaccination rate was 37.6% in 2000/2001, 46.8% in 2001/2002, and 47.6% in 2002/2003. In order to meet our goal, we had a week long “Flu Fair.” PROJECT: Our long-term care facility began advertising for the “Flu Fair” about one month prior to the administration of the influenza vaccine. Colorful posters were created and displayed through out the facility alerting staff about the upcoming event, including dates, times, and locations, and the possibility of winning a prize. Staff received educational information regarding influenza, the benefits for long-term care patients, and the cost of missing work due to influenza. There was no cost to the employee for influenza vaccination. During the “Flu Fair” week, when the employee received the vaccination, they filled out a slip of paper and placed their name into a drawing. The sooner you receive the flu vaccination, the more chances you have to win a prize. At the end of each day, there would be a daily drawing for a $50 gift certificate. On the last day of the week, one name would be drawn to win a 27inch color television. After the “Flu Fair,” vaccinations were still available to staff. Two weeks later, a pizza party was given for all staff members that received the flu vaccination as a way of thanking them taking the vaccination. Only staff that received the vaccine during the “Flu Fair” could participate. RESULTS: We were very satisfied with the results of the “Flu Fair,” our staff influenza vaccination rate went from 47.6 % in 2002-2003 to 84.4% in 2003-2004. Positive feedback from staff has helped the program become an accepted annual event. LESSONS LEARNED: There are many misconceptions regarding influenza and vaccination. By providing staff with information about this prior to the influenza season, staff had an opportunity to learn and ask questions about influenza. They realized how important it is to get vaccinated in order to protect out patients. Staff members who normally could not afford to get the vaccination were able to receive the vaccine for free. The daily prize drawings and the thank-you gift of free lunch served as a positive motivation to the staff and as a reward for taking the influenza vaccination.

Special Money: Ithaca "Hours" and Garage Sales

This article explores how are used in two different sites of the alternative economy, the U.S. garage sale and a local barter currency called Ithaca HOURS, and how they are socially demarcated as styles of exchange. Although characterized by different money in both venues create value in the interstices of the mainstream economy; stretch the value of money, while allowing direct negotiation; foster justice in the marketplace; build community; encourage good ecological practice; and enable participants to at times beat the system of the prevailing economy. HOURS and garage sales, while not capable of superceding global capitalism, rely on and complement the mainstream economic order, and both sites afford glimpses of more humane and empowering ways to exchange goods and services. (Garage sales, Ithaca HOURS, local currency, United States) ********** Whether segregating pots of money for earmarked purposes such as rent, entertainment, or retirement, or creating different forms of money such as stamps, coupons, gift certificates, or frequent flyer miles, Americans generate various special monies with divergent meanings for particular uses, which have particular forms and distinctive social meanings (Zelizer 1994, 1996). Each form of money and payment generates specific social relations that do not readily shift from one use of money to another. Further, the meanings of are articulated according to their flows, i.e., where they originate, the social meanings of where the are used, and their future direction(s) (Carruthers and Espeland 1998). This article examines some social meanings of two examples of monies: garage sales, and Ithaca's HOURS (a form of local barter currency). In addition, it elaborates seven major overlapping and mutually reinforcing themes found in both modes of alternative economic activity, which are (1) creating value at the interstices of mainstream economy, (2) stretching money, (3) negotiating value, (4) working toward ecological sustainability, (5) creating justice in the marketplace, (6) beating the system, and (7) building community. By providing ethnographic documentation of social relations embedded in the use of money and of what some term the social economy (Williams 2005) or cultural economics (Gudeman 1986; Wilk 1996), this essay contributes to exploring the social meaning of money (Carruthers and Espeland 1998; Zelizer 1994, 1996). It also furthers discussions of the utility and value of local currencies (Evans 2003; Helleiner 2000; Jacob et al. 2004; Lee 1996; Pacione 1997; Papavasiliou 2005), and further delineates oppositional practice, or what Helleiner (2000) calls consumption-based oppositional movements. Such treatments are especially important in the West, where the overarching market paradigm can obscure the social relations and cultural aspect of economic exchange (Carrier 1997; Dilley 1992). Defined as the temporary public sale of used items from in and around a private residence, a yard or garage sale usually contains an array of household items and clothing. (1) These sales occur in most American communities, and are held and attended by a cross section of the population, particularly middle- and stable working-class participants. Sales bring shoppers and sellers from diverse backgrounds into informal contact, promoting an ethos of friendliness and egalitarianism. Public commerce and proprietary hospitality are juxtaposed, as sales transpire in and around the home and proprietors are selling (more or less) their own goods. This is important in establishing the breadth of social relations found in this exchange (Herrmann 1995, 1996, 1997; Crawford 1999), ranging from the highly impersonal and commercial to the very personal and gift-like. Sellers have a wide range of styles and motivations, from periodic house-cleaning and socializing to generating cash and profit-making, as do shoppers, whose motivations include recreation, recycling, and bargain-hunting (Herrmann and Soiffer 1984). …

Interventions for promoting booster seat use in four to eight year olds travelling in motor vehicles

Public health and traffic safety agencies recommend use of booster seats in motor vehicles for children aged four to eight years, and various interventions have been implemented to increase their use by individuals who transport children in motor vehicles. There is little evidence regarding the effectiveness of these interventions, hence the need to examine what works and what does not. To assess the effectiveness of interventions intended to increase acquisition and use of booster seats in motor vehicles among four to eight year olds. We searched the Cochrane Injuries Group's Specialized Register, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE (January 1966 to April 2005), EMBASE (1980 to April 2005), LILACS, Transport Research Databases (1988 to April 2005), Australian Transport Index (1976 to April 2005), additional databases and reference lists of relevant articles. We also contacted experts in the field. We included randomized and controlled before-and-after trials that investigated the effects of interventions to promote booster seat use. Two authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. Study authors were contacted for additional information. Five studies involving 3,070 individuals met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis. All interventions for promoting use of booster seats among 4 to 8 year olds demonstrated a positive effect (relative risk (RR) 1.43; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.05 to 1.96). Incentives combined with education demonstrated a beneficial effect (RR 1.32, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.55; n = 1,898). Distribution of free booster seats combined with education also had a beneficial effect (RR 2.34; 95% CI 1.50 to 3.63; n = 380) as did education-only interventions (RR 1.32; 95% CI 1.16 to 1.49; n = 563). One study which evaluated enforcement of booster seat law met the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis, but demonstrated no marked beneficial effect. Available evidence suggests that interventions to increase use of booster seats among children age four to eight years are effective. Combining incentives (booster seat discount coupons or gift certificates) or distribution of free booster seats with education demonstrated marked beneficial outcomes for acquisition and use of booster seats for four to eight year olds. There is some evidence of beneficial effect of legislation on acquisition and use of booster seats but this was mainly from uncontrolled before-and-after studies, which did not meet the criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis.

Challenges of Internet Recruitment: A Case Study with Disappointing Results

BackgroundThe Internet provides tremendous opportunities for innovative research, but few publications on the use of the Internet for recruiting study participants exist. This paper summarizes our experiences from 2 studies in which we attempted to recruit teenagers on the Internet for a questionnaire study to evaluate a smoking-cessation website.Objective To evaluate strategies of recruiting teenagers for the evaluation of a smoking-cessation website through the Internet.MethodsIn Study 1 (Defined Community Recruitment), we sent invitation emails to registered members of a youth health website, CyberIsle. A total of 3801 email addresses were randomly divided into 2 groups. In the first group, emails indicated that the first 30 respondents would receive a Can $20 electronic gift certificate for use at an online bookstore if they would go to the Smoking Zine website and respond to a short survey. For the second group, the email also indicated that respondents would receive an additional Can $10 gift certificate if they referred their friends to the study. Reminder emails were sent 10 days after the sending of the initial invitation email. In Study 2 (Open Recruitment), we posted invitation messages on Web discussion boards, Usenet forums, and one specialized recruitment website, and attempted a snowball recruiting strategy. When potential participants arrived at the study site, they were automatically randomized into either the higher incentives group (Can $15 electronic gift certificate) or lower incentive group (Can $5 gift certificate).ResultsIn Study 1 (defined community recruitment), 2109 emails were successfully delivered. Only 5 subjects (0.24%), including 1 referred by a friend, passed the recruitment process and completed the questionnaire; a further 6 individuals visited the information page of the study but did not complete the study. In Study 2 (open recruitment), the number of users seeing the advertisement is unknown. A total of 35 users arrived at the website, of whom 14 participants were recruited (8 from the Can $15 gift certificate group and 6 from the Can $5 gift certificate group). Another 5 were recruited from the general Internet community (3 from discussion boards and 2 from the Research Volunteers website). The remaining 9 participants were recruited through friend referrals with the snowball strategy.ConclusionsOverall, the recruitment rate was disappointingly low. In our case, recruitment using Internet technologies including email, electronic discussion boards, Usenet forums, and websites did not prove to be an effective approach for soliciting young subjects to participate in our research. Possible reasons are discussed, including the participants' perspective. A major challenge is to differentiate trustable and legitimate messages from spam and fraudulent misinformation on the Internet. From the researchers' perspective, approaches are needed to engage larger samples, to verify participants' attributes, and to evaluate and adjust for potential biases associated with Internet recruitment.

Do research payments precipitate drug use or coerce participation?

Providing high-magnitude cash incentives to substance abuse clients to participate in research is frequently viewed as unethical based on the concerns that this might precipitate new drug use or be perceived as coercive. We randomly assigned consenting drug abuse outpatients to receive payments of $10, $40, or $70 in either cash or gift certificate for attending a 6-month research follow-up assessment. At the 6-month follow-up, participants received their randomly determined incentive and were then scheduled for a second follow-up appointment 3 days later to detect new instances of drug use. Findings indicated that neither the magnitude nor mode of the incentives had a significant effect on rates of new drug use or perceptions of coercion. Consistent with the contingency management literature, higher payments and cash payments were associated with increased follow-up rates. Finally, the results suggest that higher magnitude payments may be more cost-effective by reducing the need for more intensive follow-up efforts.

Incentive program decreases no-shows in nontreatment substance abuse research.

This study examined the use of a low-cost incentive program to decrease the rate of unanticipated no-shows in a nontreatment study of the genetics of substance dependence. Low-cost retail items (such as calling cards or gift certificates) were offered contingent on attendance at the first scheduled research appointment. Although the intervention did not result in an increase in the rate of attendance at appointments, it reduced the likelihood of unanticipated no-shows by almost 50%. This reduction was accompanied by a significant increase in advance cancellations. Despite limitations due to the study's A-B design, this research demonstrates that it may be possible to use modest incentives to increase the efficiency of research enrollment and increase service provision for substance abusers.

Schemes for Digital Gift Certificates with Low Computation Complexity

Recently, e-commerce becomes widespread; hence electronic department stores come into being. As a result, Chan and Chang proposed a scheme for digital gift certificates in 2002. Because it is hard to estimate the number of the clients of the electronic department stores, reducing the computation complexity of the electronic department stores becomes an important issue. Due to the need, we propose two schemes for digital gift certificates. Our proposed schemes are very practical since the computation load is light. So the schemes can be applied to the terminals with low computation power.

The Effects of Cash, Electronic, and Paper Gift Certificates as Respondent Incentives for a Web-Based Survey of Technologically Sophisticated Respondents

An experiment was conducted to determine the effectiveness of three invitation and incentivecombinations in a web-based survey. A stratified convenience sample of 434 researchers who were target users of a collaboratory for earthquake engineering was randomly divided into three experimental conditions: (a) a $5 bill sent with the survey instructions via first class mail, (b) a $5 gift certificate code to Amazon.com sent with the survey instructions via first-class mail, or (c) a $5 gift certificate code to Amazon.com sent with the survey instructions via e-mail. Overall response was 43%. Results show that $5 bills led to significantly higher response rates than either gift certificate condition (57% for cash vs. 36% for the two gift certificate conditions, [UNKNOWN]2(1) = 9.3, p < .01). This suggests that cash is a superior incentive for an online survey, even with technologically sophisticated respondents. This may be due to the perceived limitations, delayed payoff, or reduced visibility of online gift certificates.

Development of a Best Practice for Healthcare Worker Influenza Vaccination

ISSUE: To prevent the transmission of influenza to persons at risk of complications and death from influenza, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends annual vaccination of healthcare workers (HCWs). National data demonstrates HCW vaccination coverage of 36%. BJC HealthCare has had an average rate of 47% (range 40–52%) over the past 6 years. However, our goal was to improve influenza vaccination coverage for our 24,300 employees. PROJECT: A vaccination program assessment was conducted using a 14-question survey of 13 (100%) occupational health departments covering employees at 11 hospitals, five long-term-care facilities, home care, and multiple outpatient entities. Based on the survey results, an influenza vaccination program “best practices” was developed. These best practices were implemented at 100% of BJC HealthCare occupational health departments in the fall of 2003. RESULTS: The key aspects identified by the survey assessment included: readily accessible vaccination opportunities such as cafeteria campaigns; key partnerships with Administration, Infection Control, and Safety; educational materials; and incentives for getting vaccinated including gift certificates, event tickets, cafeteria coupons, and a cash drawing. One important aspect identified was effective marketing that included the use of multiple methods such as organizational and entity newspaper articles, paycheck flyers, poster displays, mass e-mails, and management meeting announcements. A vaccination rate of 52.7% (12,797 vaccinations/24,300 employees) demonstrates an increase of 6.7%. In addition, the increased vaccination rates occurred over a shorter period of time (7 weeks during 2003 versus 12 weeks during 2002). LESSONS LEARNED: Implementation of best practices for influenza vaccination programs increased vaccination coverage for HCWs. Ongoing evaluation of vaccination efforts, rate analysis, and recommendations for best practices should continue to increase influenza vaccination coverage for HCWs.

Law & psychiatry: slowing the revolving door: community reentry of offenders with mental illness.

Law & psychiatry: slowing the revolving door: community reentry of offenders with mental illness.

Conducting a Client-focused Survey Using E-mail

An e-mail listserv was used to recruit participants, administer a survey, send electronic gift certificates, and disseminate the findings of a study of psychological responses to being a carrier of the gene for phenylketonuria, a rare genetic disease. The majority of responses to the call for participants were received within the first 24 hours, and most surveys (n = 83) were returned via e-mail within 5 days. The use of e-mail allowed more opportunities for researcher-participant interaction than Web-based surveys, but the return rate of 51% may reflect concerns about privacy when e-mail addresses are required.

A School-Based Case Identification Process for Identifying Inner City Children With Asthma: The Breathmobile Program

Striking increases in the prevalence and morbidity of asthma among inner city children have been documented. To establish and evaluate a large-scale, school-based case-detection process designed to efficiently and reliably identify inner city children with asthma. A bilingual, seven-question, self-administered, parental asthma screening survey was developed. Clinical validation was achieved in a sample of 675 consecutive parents bringing a child to the school-based Breathmobile Program for initial evaluation, using a comprehensive evaluation by a physician specialist (ie, allergist) as the standard. Survey response patterns were used to construct a novel seven-model, tiered scoring algorithm and an abbreviated algorithm that predict the probability of a child being clinically classified as "yes asthma" or "no asthma." A systematic survey distribution process administered by a single coordinator was developed, and the impact of a classroom-oriented incentive offering a 25 dollars school supply gift certificate for survey return rates of >or= 80% was evaluated. A total of 636 parents provided one or more survey responses and information sufficient for clinical classification. The scoring algorithm correctly identified children with asthma (>or= 80% probability) with a sensitivity of 86.5%, a specificity of 83.6%, and a misclassification rate of 14.3% (91 of 636 children). The sensitivity for identifying persistent asthma was 91.3%. Asthma prevalence estimates derived using survey results from a larger sampling of the general population were similar to rates previously reported for comparable populations. The inclusion of an inexpensive incentive increased the median survey return rates from 35.3 to 65% (z= -11.9; p <.001). The screening process has been used to conduct 27,526 surveys at inner city schools. The Breathmobile case-detection process offers a validated, comprehensive, large-scale method with which to identify children with asthma at their school sites.

Technical Appendix B: Kansas Survey Methods

The Kansas HealthWave Evaluation Study is a multiyear study of newly enrolled children in the Kansas State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Families of new enrollees were interviewed near the time of program entry and again ∼12 months after enrollment. Telephone interviews were conducted with the adult in each household that was most familiar with the selected new enrollee’s health and health care experiences. The results reported in these analyses represent cross-sectional data from the new-enrollee phase of the study. Kansas’ SCHIP was implemented in January 1999 as a stand-alone supplement to the state’s preexisting Medicaid program. During the study period that began in September 2000, all children covered by HealthWave were enrolled in a single health plan offering all covered benefits except mental health services and operating on a fully capitated basis. Mental health was covered through a separately capitated carve-out. HealthWave covered otherwise-uninsured children <19 years old living in families with incomes <200% of the federal poverty level (FPL) and above the age-related Medicaid income thresholds: 150% of the FPL for children <1 year old, 133% of the …

Best Practices in Online Polling

Best Practices in Online Polling