What impact do questionnaire length and monetary incentives have on mailed health psychology survey response?

Objectives: Response rates to health-related surveys are declining. This study tested two strategies to improve the response rate to a health psychology survey mailed through English general practices: (1) sending a shortened questionnaire and (2) offering a monetary incentive to return a completed questionnaire. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Methods: Adults (n = 4,241) aged 45–59 years, from four General Practices in South-East England, were mailed a survey on attitudes towards bowel cancer screening. Using a 2 × 4 factorial design, participants were randomized to receive a ‘short’ (four A4 pages) or a ‘long’ (seven A4 pages) questionnaire, and one of four monetary incentives to return a completed questionnaire – (1) no monetary incentive, (2) £2.50 shop voucher, (3) £5.00 shop voucher, and (4) inclusion in a £250 shop voucher prize draw. Age, gender, and area-level deprivation were obtained from the General Practices. Results: The overall response rate was 41% (n = 1,589). Response to the ‘short’ questionnaire (42%) was not significantly different from the ‘long’ questionnaire (40%). The £2.50 incentive (43%) significantly improved response rates in univariate analyses, and remained significant after controlling for age, gender, area-level deprivation, and questionnaire length. The £5.00 (42%) and £250 prize draw (41%) incentives had no significant impact on response rates compared to no incentive (38%). Conclusions: A small monetary incentive (£2.50) may slightly increase response to a mailed health psychology survey. The length of the questionnaire (four pages vs. seven pages) did not influence response. Although frequently used, entry into a prize draw did not increase response. Achieving representative samples remains a challenge for health psychology

Exploring social gambling: scoping, classification and evidence review

The aim of this report is to speculate on the level of concern we might have regarding consumer risk in relation to ‘social gambling.’ In doing so, this report is intended to help form the basis to initiate debate around a new and under-researched social issue; assist in setting a scientific research agenda; and, where appropriate, highlight concerns about any potential areas that need to be considered in terms of precautionary regulation. This report does not present a set of empirical research findings regarding ‘social gambling’ but rather gathers information to improve stakeholder understanding

The association between weight loss and engagement with a web-based food and exercise diary in a commercial weight loss programme: a retrospective analysis

Background: The Internet provides a widely accessible platform for weight loss interventions. Automated tools can allow self-guided monitoring of food intake and other target behaviours that are established correlates of weight change. Many programmes also offer social support from the virtual community. The aim of this research was to assess associations between engagement with self-monitoring tools and social support, and weight loss in an online weight-control programme.Methods: This paper describes a retrospective analysis of weight change among 3621 subscribers to a commercial Internet-based weight loss programme. Participants were all subscribers (2979 women; 642 men) joining the programme between July 2005 and November 2008 with two or more recorded weights spanning at least 28 days of participation in the programme. Engagement was indexed with frequency of using online diet and exercise diaries and with use of the social support forums.Results: Programme engagement was associated with weight loss in both men and women after controlling for initial BMI and duration of participation. The three engagement variables accounted for 13% of variance in percentage weight loss in women (p < .001) and 19% in men (p < .001). In analyses including all the engagement variables, exercise diary use was an independent predictor of weight loss among men, but non-significant in women. In contrast, use of the online forums was associated with weight loss in women but not in men. Among participants who were overweight or obese, those in the highest tertile of engagement with food diaries (vs the lowest) were more likely to achieve clinically significant (> 5%) weight loss (men: OR = 3.45 p < .001; women: OR = 5.05 p < .001). Being in the highest tertile of engagement with exercise diaries was associated with clinically significant weight loss in men (OR = 3.48 p < .001) and, less strongly, in women (OR = 1.46 p < .05).Conclusions: Use of self-monitoring tools and participation in online support are predictive of weight loss in the context of a commercial, online weight control programme

Soft drinks and 'desire to drink' in preschoolers

Interest in soft drink consumption has increased following a dramatic rise in intake over recent years. Research to date has focused primarily on general trends in consumption or on understanding the mechanism by which soft drink consumption may be linked to weight gain. It is clear however that there is considerable individual variability in the extent to which soft drinks are consumed and factors potentially influencing intake have received little attention. This study examines how the Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) construct 'Desire to Drink' (DD) relates to drink consumption, preferences and BMI-SDS

The effects of a genetic information leaflet on public attitudes towards genetic testing

Genetics opinion surveys often include information to ensure that respondents have sufficient understanding to give informed responses. The information is assumed to be neutral but may skew responses. We assessed the impact of a seemingly “neutral” information leaflet on attitudes towards genetic testing among 1,024 survey respondents, half of whom received the leaflet. The leaflet group reported higher levels of subjective understanding of genetic testing (68 percent vs. 53 percent), were more interested in genetic testing (81 percent vs. 77 percent), and held more positive attitudes towards genetics than people who did not receive the leaflet. Information leaflets may have the intended effect of increasing understanding, but may also unintentionally influence reported views on genetics. In the light of the weight given to public consultation in today’s governance and regulation of human genetics, increased awareness of how even seemingly neutral information can influence public attitudes is recommended

Socioeconomic inequalities in breast and cervical screening coverage in England: Are we closing the gap?

Objective:&nbsp;Health policy in the UK is committed to tackling inequalities in cancer screening participation. We examined whether socioeconomic inequalities in breast and cervical cancer screening participation in England have reduced over five years.&nbsp; Methods: Cross-sectional analyses compared cervical and breast screening coverage between 2007/8 and 2012/13 in Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England in relation to area-level income deprivation.&nbsp; Results: At the start and the end of this five year period, there were socioeconomic inequalities in screening coverage for breast and cervical screening. Inequalities were highest for breast screening. Over time, the coverage gap between the highest and lowest quintiles of income deprivation significantly reduced for breast screening (from 12.3 to 8.3 percentage points), but not for cervical screening (5.3 to 4.9 percentage points).&nbsp; Conclusions: Efforts to reduce screening inequalities appear to have resulted in a significant improvement in equitable delivery of breast screening, although not of cervical screening. More work is needed to understand the differences, and see whether broader lessons can be learned from the reduction of inequalities in breast screening participation

Development, factor structure and application of the Dog Obesity Risk and Appetite (DORA) questionnaire.

Background. Dogs are compelling models in which to study obesity since the condition shares many characteristics between humans and dogs. Differences in eating behaviour are recognised to contribute to obesity susceptibility in other species but this has not been systematically studied in dogs. Aim. To develop and validate an owner-reported measure of canine eating behaviour and owner or dog related factors which can alter the development of obesity. Further, to then test variation in food-motivation in dogs and its association with obesity and owner management. Methods. Owner interviews, a literature review and existing human appetite scales were used to identify relevant topics and generate items for the questionnaire. Following a pilot phase, a 75 item online questionnaire was distributed via social media. Responses from 302 dog/owner dyads were analysed and factor structure and descriptive statistics calculated. Results were compared with descriptions of dog behaviour and management from a subset of respondents during semi-structured interviews. The optimum questions were disseminated as a 34 item final questionnaire completed by 213 owners, with a subset of respondents repeating the questionnaire 3 weeks later to assess test-retest reliability. Results. Analysis of responses to the final questionnaire relating to 213 dog/owner dyads showed a coherent factor structure and good test-retest reliability. There were three dog factors (food responsiveness and satiety, lack of selectivity, Interest in food), four owner factors (owner motivation to control dog weight, owner intervention to control dog weight, restriction of human food, exercise taken) and two dog health factors (signs of gastrointestinal disease, current poor health). Eating behaviour differed between individuals and between breed groups. High scores on dog factors (high food-motivation) and low scores on owner factors (less rigorous control of diet/exercise) were associated with obesity. Owners of more highly food-motivated dogs exerted more control over their dogs' food intake than those of less food-motivated dogs. Conclusions. The DORA questionnaire is a reliable and informative owner-reported measure of canine eating behaviour and health and management factors which can be associated with obesity development. The tool will be applicable to study of the canine obesity model and to clinical veterinarians. Results revealed eating behaviour to be similarly associated with obesity as exercise and owners giving titbits

Egyetemisták és főiskolások szívbetegséggel kapcsolatos egészségmagatartása, rizikótudata és hiedelmei

A kardiovaszkuláris kórképek okozta halálozás a fejlett társadalmakban vezető helyen áll. Vizsgálatunkban felmértük, hogy a rizikótényezők ismerete és az egészséges életmód különböző aspektusaihoz való hozzáállás milyen összefüggést mutat a kockázati és az egészségmagatartással. Módszerek: Az International Health and Behaviour Survey nemzetközi kutatás keretében országos reprezentatív keresztmetszeti vizsgálatot végeztünk egyetemisták és főiskolások között. Önkitöltős kérdőívet alkalmazva a kardiovaszkuláris rizikófaktorok közül az egészségtelen életmódra (dohányzás, kevés mozgás, túlsúly, egészségtelen étrend) kérdeztünk rá, és vizsgáltuk a rizikótényezők ismeretét, illetve az egészséges életmóddal kapcsolatos attitűdöket is. A felmérésben 590 hallgató vett részt: 237 férfi (40,2%) és 353 nő (59,8%). A hallgatók életkora 18 és 28 év között volt, átlagéletkoruk 21,8 év (±1,8). Többváltozós logisztikus regressziós modelleket alkalmaztunk, eredményeinket nemre és korra kontrolláltuk. Eredmények:Magatartás: A diákok 19,4 %-a dohányzott és 9,5%-a túlsúlyosnak bizonyult. A hallgatók 84%-a legalább egyszer sportolt két hét alatt. Az egészséges étrend prevalenciája alacsonyabb a fentebb említett té­nyezőkéhez képest: napi egyszeri gyümölcsfogyasztásról a diákok 35,7%-a számolt be, 30,7% igyekezett csökkenteni a koleszterin- és zsírbevitelt, illetve 23,9% fogyasztott tudatosan rosttartalmú ételeket. Ismeretek: Míg a túlsúlyt és a fokozott koleszterin- és zsírbevitelt a diákok több mint háromnegyede említette, addig a dohányzás és a kevés testmozgás szerepét a hallgatók mintegy fele ismerte (55,3% és 42,8%). A rostfogyasztásról csak 18,4% tett említést. Attitűdök: A legtöbben a rendszeres testmozgást tartották fontosnak (93,1%), ezt követte a gyümölcsfogyasztás (90,8%), a normális testsúly megtartása (87,8%) és a dohányzás mellőzése (86,4%). Ezzel szemben a rostfogyasztás és a kevés állati zsír fogyasztása a hallgatók csak kevesebb mint kétharmada számára volt fontos (61,2% és 59,3%). A szívbetegség rizikófaktorainak ismerete igen kevés kapcsolatot mutatott a magatartással (a dohányzásnál találtunk pozitív összefüggést). Az attitűdök - a rizikótudattal ellentétben - igen jelentős szerepet játszottak, szinte minden magatartásforma esetében. Következtetések: A diákok között továbbra is igen magas a kardiovaszkuláris rizikómagatartás prevalenciája. A rizikófaktorok ismerete önmagában nem járult hozzá ahhoz, hogy a diákok egészségesebben éljenek. Ha az egészséges életmód fontos értéket képviselt számukra, akkor gyakrabban sikerült az egészséges magatartásformát megvalósítaniuk

Changing perceptions of weight in Great Britain: comparison of two population surveys

Objectives To examine changes in public perceptions of overweight in Great Britain over an eight year period