Improving Electronic Survey Response Rates Among Cancer Center Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mixed Methods Pilot Study.
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ABSTRACT: Background
Surveys play a vital role in cancer research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of electronic surveys is crucial to improve understanding of the patient experience. However, response rates to electronic surveys are often lower compared with those of paper surveys.Objective
The aim of this study was to determine the best approach to improve response rates for an electronic survey administered to patients at a cancer center during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods
We contacted 2750 patients seen at Moffitt Cancer Center in the prior 5 years via email to complete a survey regarding their experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, with patients randomly assigned to a series of variations of prenotifications (ie, postcard, letter) or incentives (ie, small gift, modest gift card). In total, eight combinations were evaluated. Qualitative interviews were conducted to understand the level of patient understanding and burden with the survey, and quantitative analysis was used to evaluate the response rates between conditions.Results
A total of 262 (9.5%) patients completed the survey and 9 participated in a qualitative interview. Interviews revealed minimal barriers in understanding or burden, which resulted in minor survey design changes. Compared to sending an email only, sending a postcard or letter prior to the email improved response rates from 3.7% to 9.8%. Similarly, inclusion of an incentive significantly increased the response rate from 5.4% to 16.7%, especially among racial (3.0% to 12.2%) and ethnic (6.4% to 21.0%) minorities, as well as among patients with low socioeconomic status (3.1% to 14.9%).Conclusions
Strategies to promote effective response rates include prenotification postcards or letters as well as monetary incentives. This work can inform future survey development to increase response rates for electronic surveys, particularly among hard-to-reach populations.
SUBMITTER: Hathaway CA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8360334 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:AimThis study aimed to investigate eHealth literacy about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among older adults during the pandemic.BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic promoted the development of online health care. Higher demand for accessing information from the Internet was seen.MethodsThis was a sequential explanatory mixed-method study, involving a survey of older adults to explore the status and influencing factors of eHealth literacy regarding COVID-19. Semi-structured interviews were used to understand experiences and challenges regarding information retrieval, judgment and utilization.ResultsA total of 337 older adults participated in the online questionnaire survey. Overall, older adults had slightly higher scores on eHealth literacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants' location in the past month and current health issues were associated with eHealth literacy. Qualitative data were collected from nine older adults and included that some older adults retrieved health-related information during the pandemic. However, those who used non-smartphones described difficulties in information retrieval. A glut of misinformation has resulted in an 'infodemic', which has not only increased the difficulty of judging information but also posed challenges in information utilization for older adults.ConclusionImproving older adults' eHealth literacy is essential in promoting an improved response to major public health events and in providing better health care for this group in the future. It is essential that government health agencies and health care providers provide evidence-based health information via social media platforms. Further efforts are needed to combine aspects of traditional and online health care services and provide reliable and updated online information and resources for older adults.Implications for nursing managementProviding evidence to eHealth literacy improvement and health management of older adults in the context of public health events.
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Project description:AimThis mixed-methods pilot study aimed to measure the feasibility and acceptability of a psychoeducational group programme and determine its impact on mental well-being.BackgroundThe programme was developed to promote self-care, growth and adaptive coping for nurse managers. The programme themes were resilience, insight, self-compassion and empowerment.MethodsThe sample included 19 hospital-based nurse managers. Outcomes included post-traumatic growth, resilience, insight, self-compassion, empowerment, perceived stress, burnout and job satisfaction. Paired samples t tests were conducted to compare outcomes at baseline to follow-up. Qualitative interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis was used to code the qualitative responses by keyword, which were then aggregated into themes.ResultsParticipants reported higher post-traumatic growth and psychological empowerment after the intervention. The following six themes emerged most consistently from the qualitative interviews: feasibility of the programme, benefits of peer support, sources of stress, barriers to self-care, sources of strength and sustainability of effects.ConclusionsThe results support the acceptability and feasibility of the psychoeducational group programme.Implications for nursing managementHealth care organizations can support and promote the implementation of programmes to alleviate burnout and improve mental well-being amid the complex demands of nursing management (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04987697).
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Project description:Dogs play an important role in our society as companions and work partners, and proper training of these dogs is pivotal. For companion dogs, training helps preventing or managing dog behavioral problems-the most frequently cited reason for relinquishing and euthanasia, and it promotes successful dog-human relationships and thus maximizes benefits humans derive from bonding with dogs. For working dogs, training is crucial for them to successfully accomplish their jobs. Dog training methods range widely from those using predominantly aversive stimuli (aversive methods), to those combining aversive and rewarding stimuli (mixed methods) and those focusing on the use of rewards (reward methods). The use of aversive stimuli in training is highly controversial and several veterinary and animal protection organizations have recommended a ban on pinch collars, e-collars and other techniques that induce fear or pain in dogs, on the grounds that such methods compromise dog welfare. At the same time, training methods based on the use of rewards are claimed to be more humane and equally or more effective than aversive or mixed methods. This important discussion, however, has not always been based in solid scientific evidence. Although there is growing scientific evidence that training with aversive stimuli has a negative impact on dog welfare, the scientific literature on the efficacy and efficiency of the different methodologies is scarce and inconsistent. Hence, the goal of the current study is to investigate the efficacy and efficiency of different dog training methods. To that end, we will apply different dog training methods in a population of working dogs and evaluate the outcome after a period of training. The use of working dogs will allow for a rigorous experimental design and control, with randomization of treatments. Military (n = 10) and police (n = 20) dogs will be pseudo-randomly allocated to two groups. One group will be trained to perform a set of tasks (food refusal, interrupted recall, dumbbell retrieval and placing items in a basket) using reward methods and the other group will be trained for the same tasks using mixed methods. Later, the dogs will perform a standardized test where they will be required to perform the trained behaviors. The reliability of the behaviors and the time taken to learn them will be assessed in order to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency, respectively, of the different training methods. This study will be performed in collaboration with the Portuguese Army and with the Portuguese Public Security Police (PSP) and integrated with their dog training programs.
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