Refusal and information bias associated with postal questionnairesand face-to-face interviews in very elderly subjects
R. Hebert
Bok Engelsk 1996
| Utgitt | 1996
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| Omfang | Side 373- 381
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| Opplysninger | Our objectives were (1) to analyze the refusal bias associated withpostal questionnaires and face-to-face interviews and (2) to compareresponses elicited from a postal questionnaire with those provided bya face-to-face interview in subjects over 75 years of age. Ourmethods included a postal questionnaire sent to a representativesample of community-dwelling elderly individuals (n = 842). Allsubjects were also invited to participate in an in-home interviewconducted by a trained nurse. One hundred and six subjects (12.6%)were nonrespondents to the postal questionnaire. These nonrespondentswere more cognitively impaired, more disabled, and showed a higher 1-year mortality rate (13.2 versus 5.2%) than respondents, Laterespondents who needed a reminder letter were similar tononrespondents. One hundred and eighty-seven subjects (22.2%) refusedto participate in the home interview, These nonparticipants weresimilar to the participants on age, sex, 1-year mortality rate, andresponses given to all but two postal questions. Comparison of postalquestionnaire responses and face to-face responses revealed thatagreement was substantial to moderate for factual information (kappa= 0.41 to 0.80) but poor for clinical information (depression,cognitive impairment, disability). A short index including age, sex,and six questions on disability was useful in identifying disabledsubjects by a postal questionnaire, Our conclusion is thatnonresponse bias is evidenced when postal questionnaires are utilizedin the very elderly population and caution should be used wheninterpreting health data obtained by this technique. Refusal biasfrom face to-face interviewing is less important in this population.
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