TY - JOUR
T1 - Review of retention strategies in longitudinal studies and application to follow-up of ICU survivors
AU - Tansey, Catherine M.
AU - Matté, Andrea L.
AU - Needham, Dale
AU - Herridge, Margaret S.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2007/12
Y1 - 2007/12
N2 - Objective: To review the literature on retention strategies in follow-up studies and their relevance to critical care and to comment on the Toronto experience with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) follow-up studies. Design and setting: Literature review and two cohort studies in a tertiary care hospital in Toronto, Canada. Patients and participants: ARDS and SARS patients. Measurements and results: Review articles from the social sciences and medicine are summarized and our own experience with two longitudinal studies is drawn upon to elucidate strategies that can be successfully used to attenuate participant drop-out from longitudinal studies. Three key areas for retention of subjects are identified from the literature: (a) respect for patients: respect for their ideas and their time commitment to the research project; (b) tracking: collect information on many patient contacts at the initiation of the study and outline tracking procedures for subjects lost to follow-up; and (c) study personnel: interpersonal skills must be reinforced, flexible working hours mandated, and support offered. Our 5-year ARDS and 1-year SARS study retention rates were 86% and 91%, respectively, using these methods. Conclusions: Strategies to reduce patient attrition are time consuming but necessary to preserve internal and external validity. When the follow-up system is working effectively, researchers can acquire the necessary data to advance knowledge in their field and patients are satisfied that they have an important role to play in the research project.
AB - Objective: To review the literature on retention strategies in follow-up studies and their relevance to critical care and to comment on the Toronto experience with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) follow-up studies. Design and setting: Literature review and two cohort studies in a tertiary care hospital in Toronto, Canada. Patients and participants: ARDS and SARS patients. Measurements and results: Review articles from the social sciences and medicine are summarized and our own experience with two longitudinal studies is drawn upon to elucidate strategies that can be successfully used to attenuate participant drop-out from longitudinal studies. Three key areas for retention of subjects are identified from the literature: (a) respect for patients: respect for their ideas and their time commitment to the research project; (b) tracking: collect information on many patient contacts at the initiation of the study and outline tracking procedures for subjects lost to follow-up; and (c) study personnel: interpersonal skills must be reinforced, flexible working hours mandated, and support offered. Our 5-year ARDS and 1-year SARS study retention rates were 86% and 91%, respectively, using these methods. Conclusions: Strategies to reduce patient attrition are time consuming but necessary to preserve internal and external validity. When the follow-up system is working effectively, researchers can acquire the necessary data to advance knowledge in their field and patients are satisfied that they have an important role to play in the research project.
KW - Critical care
KW - Epidemiological studies
KW - Intensive care
KW - Patient dropouts
KW - Patient participation
KW - Retention of subjects
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U2 - 10.1007/s00134-007-0817-6
DO - 10.1007/s00134-007-0817-6
M3 - Review article
C2 - 17701161
AN - SCOPUS:36448959409
SN - 0342-4642
VL - 33
SP - 2051
EP - 2057
JO - Intensive Care Medicine
JF - Intensive Care Medicine
IS - 12
ER -