Behavioral Changes Associated With COVID-19 Vaccination: Cross-National Online Survey.

BACKGROUND: During the initial phases of the vaccination campaign worldwide, nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) remained pivotal in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, it is important to understand how the arrival of vaccines affected the adoption of NPIs. Indeed, some individuals might have seen the start of mass vaccination campaigns as the end of the emergency and, as a result, relaxed their COVID-safe behaviors, facilitating the spread of the virus in a delicate epidemic phase such as the initial rollout. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to collect information about the possible relaxation of protective behaviors following key events of the vaccination campaign in four countries and to analyze possible associations of these behavioral tendencies with the sociodemographic characteristics of participants. METHODS: We developed an online survey named "COVID-19 Prevention and Behavior Survey" that was conducted between November 26 and December 22, 2021. Participants were recruited using targeted ads on Facebook in four different countries: Brazil, Italy, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. We measured the onset of relaxation of protective measures in response to key events of the vaccination campaign, namely personal vaccination and vaccination of the most vulnerable population. Through calculation of odds ratios (ORs) and regression analysis, we assessed the strength of association between compliance with NPIs and sociodemographic characteristics of participants. RESULTS: We received 2263 questionnaires from the four countries. Participants reported the most significant changes in social activities such as going to a restaurant or the cinema and visiting relatives and friends. This is in good agreement with validated psychological models of health-related behavioral change such as the Health Belief Model, according to which activities with higher costs and perceived barriers (eg, social activities) are more prone to early relaxation. Multivariate analysis using a generalized linear model showed that the two main determinants of the drop of social NPIs were (1) having previously tested positive for COVID-19 (after the second vaccine dose: OR 2.46, 95% CI 1.73-3.49) and (2) living with people at risk (after the second vaccine dose: OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.22-2.03). CONCLUSIONS: This work shows that particular caution has to be taken during vaccination campaigns. Indeed, people might relax their safe behaviors regardless of the dynamics of the epidemic. For this reason, it is crucial to maintain high compliance with NPIs to avoid hindering the beneficial effects of the vaccine.

Should samples be weighted to decrease selection bias in online surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic? Data from seven datasets.

BACKGROUND: Online surveys have triggered a heated debate regarding their scientific validity. Many authors have adopted weighting methods to enhance the quality of online survey findings, while others did not find an advantage for this method. This work aims to compare weighted and unweighted association measures after adjustment over potential confounding, taking into account dataset properties such as the initial gap between the population and the selected sample, the sample size, and the variable types. METHODS: This study assessed seven datasets collected between 2019 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic through online cross-sectional surveys using the snowball sampling technique. Weighting methods were applied to adjust the online sample over sociodemographic features of the target population. RESULTS: Despite varying age and gender gaps between weighted and unweighted samples, strong similarities were found for dependent and independent variables. When applied on the same datasets, the regression analysis results showed a high relative difference between methods for some variables, while a low difference was found for others. In terms of absolute impact, the highest impact on the association measure was related to the sample size, followed by the age gap, the gender gap, and finally, the significance of the association between weighted age and the dependent variable. CONCLUSION: The results of this analysis of online surveys indicate that weighting methods should be used cautiously, as weighting did not affect the results in some databases, while it did in others. Further research is necessary to define situations in which weighting would be beneficial.

Differences in HIV Risk and Prevention Among Cisgender Latino Sexual Minority Men by Language of Online Survey Completion: Analysis of National and Washington State Data.

Internet-based surveys can be programmed and advertised in multiple languages to reach non-English-speaking individuals, but it is unclear the extent to which this enhances the diversity of participants and supports inclusion of individuals at higher risk for HIV. We sought to examine how language of survey completion (English or Spanish) was associated with sociodemographic characteristics and indicators of HIV risk and prevention among cisgender Latino sexual minority men (SMM). We analyzed national and Washington State data using the Understanding New Infections through Targeted Epidemiology (UNITE) Cohort Study (2017 and 2018) and the Washington HIV/STI Prevention Project (WHSPP) survey (2017 and 2018/2019), respectively. Latino SMM who completed online surveys in Spanish differed from those who completed surveys in English across several sociodemographic characteristics including age, education, and income. After adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and HIV-related risk factors, Spanish language respondents in UNITE were less likely to have tested for HIV in the past year, and those in WHSPP were more likely to report a recent STI diagnosis. Findings suggest that Latino SMM who complete surveys in Spanish comprise a unique subgroup that may have a specific HIV health and risk behavior profile. Our results suggest a need for increased and tailored efforts to recruit and include Spanish-speaking Latino SMM for local and national research and public health programming.

RESUMEN: Encuestas por internet pueden ser programadas y anunciadas para alcanzar a personas que no hablan inglés, pero no queda claro si esto pueda mejorar la diversidad de los participantes de investigación y apoyar la inclusión de los individuos de alto riesgo a infección con el VIH. En este estudio examinamos la relación del idioma de completar la encuesta en línea (inglés o español) entre hombres Latinos de minorías sexuales (HLMS) cisgénero con características sociodemográficas y determinantes para el riesgo y prevención del VIH. Analizamos los datos nacionales y estatales con el estudio de cohorte de Understanding New Infections through Targeted Epidemiology (UNITE) (2017 y 2018) y El Proyecto de Washington para la Prevención del VIH/Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual (WHSPP) (2017 y 2018/2019), respectivamente. Los HLSM quienes completaron las encuestas por internet en español fueron diferentes a los que completaron las encuestas en inglés por varias características sociodemográficas incluso la edad, la educación, y el ingreso. Después de ajustar por las características sociodemográficas y los factores de riesgo asociados con el VIH, los participantes de UNITE que respondieron en español tuvieron menos probabilidad de haberse hecho la prueba de VIH en el año pasado y los que participaron en el WHSPP eran más probable que reportaran un diagnóstico de ITS. Los resultados indican que los HLSM quienes completan las encuestas en español representan un subgrupo distinto que tiene un perfil específico de comportamiento de riesgo y salud respecto al VIH. Los resultados demuestran la necesidad de mayores esfuerzos especializados para reclutar e incluir los HLSM quienes hablan español para que participen en las investigaciones en línea a nivel local y nacional y la programación de la salud pública.

Identifying diversity, equity, and inclusion enhancement opportunities through an online mixed methods library survey.

Objective: A mixed methods survey was conducted at a health sciences library to assess patrons' perceptions of the library's digital and physical environments in relation to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Methods: Developed by the library's DEI Team and preceded by a pilot assessment, the survey posed 17 Likert Scale questions and 2 free-text response questions on the topics of belonging, inclusivity, equitability, emotional and physical safety, and commitment to DEI. The survey was created in Qualtrics, pilot tested, and launched in February 2020 for approximately 12 weeks. Results: Objective question responses were received from 101 individuals, with 24 open-ended responses. The quantitative findings showed largely positive perceptions of the DEI climate. Questions about feeling welcome and feeling physically safe were among those with the highest responses. The three lower-scoring questions indicate areas for improvement, including services for people whose native language is not English, for individuals with disabilities, and for families. The qualitative findings indicate the library's strengths include its exhibitions, welcoming atmosphere, and LGBTQ+ inclusivity initiatives. In contrast, opportunities for enhancement encompass non-English language resources, website updates, and accessibility to some physical spaces. Conclusion: The DEI Team is using the online survey data to enhance library services, staffing, programming, policies, and spaces. These improvements include looking into providing a space for patrons with families, expanding services for individuals whose first language is not English, assessing library accessibility for people with physical disabilities, and enhancing the physical space with quiet areas, improved lighting, and meditation spaces. Employee DEI training is ongoing, using results from a training needs survey to identify knowledge gaps. The library has a history of successful partnerships with campus entities, which will help the DEI Team to move forward with their work.

Economic anxiety among contingent survey workers.

Psychologists and other social scientists increasingly conduct experiments with online convenience samples from Amazon's Mechanical Turk Marketplace (MTurk). MTurk and population-based samples differ in well-documented ways, but whether or not compositional differences are problematic for experiments remains controversial. We highlight a critically important characteristic that is likely to interact with many experimental treatments in the psychological and behavioral sciences, and that has not been identified by other studies of MTurk samples: economic anxiety. We document a sizable difference between contingent survey workers and the general population and explain the ways in which economic anxiety is likely to interact with experimental treatments. In an era of rapidly growing economic anxiety and group disparities in economic wellbeing, awareness of this compositional difference is essential, especially in cases where experimental stimuli may interact with economic anxiety. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02535-4.

Psychological distress among Italians during the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) quarantine.

BACKGROUND: Quarantine as a preventive action to reduce people's exposure to a contagious disease has substantial psychological impact. We aimed to collect information on psychologically distressing experiences of Italians living in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: From 6 to 20 April 2020 participants filled out an online questionnaire. Demographic and physical symptoms data from the prior 14 days of quarantine were collected. Psychological impact of quarantine was assessed by the COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index (CPDI). RESULTS: In all, 20,158 participants completed the online survey. Of these, 11,910 (59.1%) were from Lombardy, the region with 37.7% of positive cases identified during the survey period. 30.1% of responders were male. About half (55.9%) of responders were 18-50 years old, 54.3% had a tertiary level of education, 69.5% were workers, 84.1% were living in houses with ≥3 rooms, and 13.7% were living alone. 9.7% had had contact with COVID-19 positive people. Of all responders, 9978 (48.6%) reported a psychological impact, 8897 (43.4%) of whom reported mild or moderate and 1081 (5.2%) severe psychological impact. The multivariate analysis, after adjustments, showed that an increasing CPDI score was associated with gender (female), first-second educational level, being unemployed, living in a ≤2 room house, having had new health problems during the previous 14 days, and not having been out of the house in the previous week. Concerning the type of psychological distress, 2003 responders (9.9%) reported moderate to severe depressive symptoms, 1131 (5.5%) moderate to severe anxiety symptoms, and 802 (3.9%) moderate to severe physical symptoms. A positive correlation was found between responder rate (per 10.000 residents) and positive COVID-19 cases (per 10.000 residents) by region (rs = + 0.83, p = < 0.0001), and between responder rate and region latitude (rs = + 0.91, p = < 0.0001), with a greater response rate in the north. Considering Lombardy Region responders, a negative correlation between CPDI score and distance from place of residence to the red zone (Nembro-Alzano) was found. Higher prevalence of psychological distress was found up to 25 km away from the red zone and, in particular, severe distress up to 15 km. CONCLUSIONS: Policy makers and mental health professionals should be aware of quarantine's adverse mental health consequences. Factors influencing the success of quarantine and infection control practices for both disease containment and community recovery should be identified and additional support to vulnerable persons at increased risk of adverse psychological and social consequences of quarantine should be guaranteed.

Using Trellis software to enhance high-quality large-scale network data collection in the field.

Trellis is a mobile platform created by the Human Nature Lab at the Yale Institute for Network Science to collect high-quality, location-aware, off-line/online, multi-lingual, multi-relational social network and behavior data in hard-to-reach communities. Respondents use Trellis to identify their social contacts by name and photograph, a procedure especially useful in low-literacy populations or in contexts where names may be similar or confusing. We use social network data collected from 1,969 adult respondents in two villages in Kenya to demonstrate Trellis' ability to provide unprecedented metadata to monitor and report on the data collection process including artifactual variability based on surveyors, time of day, or location.

Use of Rapid Online Surveys to Assess People's Perceptions During Infectious Disease Outbreaks: A Cross-sectional Survey on COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Given the extensive time needed to conduct a nationally representative household survey and the commonly low response rate of phone surveys, rapid online surveys may be a promising method to assess and track knowledge and perceptions among the general public during fast-moving infectious disease outbreaks. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to apply rapid online surveying to determine knowledge and perceptions of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among the general public in the United States and the United Kingdom. METHODS: An online questionnaire was administered to 3000 adults residing in the United States and 3000 adults residing in the United Kingdom who had registered with Prolific Academic to participate in online research. Prolific Academic established strata by age (18-27, 28-37, 38-47, 48-57, or ≥58 years), sex (male or female), and ethnicity (white, black or African American, Asian or Asian Indian, mixed, or "other"), as well as all permutations of these strata. The number of participants who could enroll in each of these strata was calculated to reflect the distribution in the US and UK general population. Enrollment into the survey within each stratum was on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants completed the questionnaire between February 23 and March 2, 2020. RESULTS: A total of 2986 and 2988 adults residing in the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively, completed the questionnaire. Of those, 64.4% (1924/2986) of US participants and 51.5% (1540/2988) of UK participants had a tertiary education degree, 67.5% (2015/2986) of US participants had a total household income between US $20,000 and US $99,999, and 74.4% (2223/2988) of UK participants had a total household income between £15,000 and £74,999. US and UK participants' median estimate for the probability of a fatal disease course among those infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was 5.0% (IQR 2.0%-15.0%) and 3.0% (IQR 2.0%-10.0%), respectively. Participants generally had good knowledge of the main mode of disease transmission and common symptoms of COVID-19. However, a substantial proportion of participants had misconceptions about how to prevent an infection and the recommended care-seeking behavior. For instance, 37.8% (95% CI 36.1%-39.6%) of US participants and 29.7% (95% CI 28.1%-31.4%) of UK participants thought that wearing a common surgical mask was "highly effective" in protecting them from acquiring COVID-19, and 25.6% (95% CI 24.1%-27.2%) of US participants and 29.6% (95% CI 28.0%-31.3%) of UK participants thought it was prudent to refrain from eating at Chinese restaurants. Around half (53.8%, 95% CI 52.1%-55.6%) of US participants and 39.1% (95% CI 37.4%-40.9%) of UK participants thought that children were at an especially high risk of death when infected with SARS-CoV-2. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of participants by total household income and education followed approximately that of the US and UK general population. The findings from this online survey could guide information campaigns by public health authorities, clinicians, and the media. More broadly, rapid online surveys could be an important tool in tracking the public's knowledge and misperceptions during rapidly moving infectious disease outbreaks.

Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain: Large-Scale, Online, Self-Reported Population Survey.

BACKGROUND: Spain has been one of the countries most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the first confirmed case was reported on January 31, 2020, there have been over 405,000 cases and 28,000 deaths in Spain. The economic and social impact is without precedent. Thus, it is important to quickly assess the situation and perception of the population. Large-scale online surveys have been shown to be an effective tool for this purpose. OBJECTIVE: We aim to assess the situation and perception of the Spanish population in four key areas related to the COVID-19 pandemic: social contact behavior during confinement, personal economic impact, labor situation, and health status. METHODS: We obtained a large sample using an online survey with 24 questions related to COVID-19 in the week of March 28-April 2, 2020, during the peak of the first wave of COVID-19 in Spain. The self-selection online survey method of nonprobability sampling was used to recruit 156,614 participants via social media posts that targeted the general adult population (age >18 years). Given such a large sample, the 95% CI was ±0.843 for all reported proportions. RESULTS: Regarding social behavior during confinement, participants mainly left their homes to satisfy basic needs. We found several statistically significant differences in social behavior across genders and age groups. The population's willingness to comply with the confinement measures is evident. From the survey answers, we identified a significant adverse economic impact of the pandemic on those working in small businesses and a negative correlation between economic damage and willingness to stay in confinement. The survey revealed that close contacts play an important role in the transmission of the disease, and 28% of the participants lacked the necessary resources to properly isolate themselves. We also identified a significant lack of testing, with only 1% of the population tested and 6% of respondents unable to be tested despite their doctor's recommendation. We developed a generalized linear model to identify the variables that were correlated with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result. Using this model, we estimated an average of 5% for SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in the Spanish population during the time of the study. A seroprevalence study carried out later by the Spanish Ministry of Health reported a similar level of disease prevalence (5%). CONCLUSIONS: Large-scale online population surveys, distributed via social media and online messaging platforms, can be an effective, cheap, and fast tool to assess the impact and prevalence of an infectious disease in the context of a pandemic, particularly when there is a scarcity of official data and limited testing capacity.

On the efficacy of online drug surveys during the time of COVID-19.

Most human subjects research involving contact with participants has been halted in the US due to the COVID-19 crisis. We have been testing an online method to recruit and survey participants as a temporary replacement for our street-intercept survey method. Online surveys already generate less generalizable findings than other surveys, but offering compensation for online survey completion further reduces generalizability because this increases mischievous submissions. In this letter we discuss methods to help detect invalid responses, such as utilizing a screener to test for eligibility and using flags to detect mischievous responses and repeat submissions. We recommend that researchers approach online recruitment and surveying with caution.

PROM Validation Using Paper-Based or Online Surveys: Data Collection Methods Affect the Sociodemographic and Health Profile of the Sample.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the impact of data collection method on the sociodemographic and health profile of samples of people with diabetes who complete either an online or postal patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) validation survey. METHODS: A longitudinal survey of people with diabetes was conducted using online and postal survey versions. The survey consisted of sociodemographic and health questions, a health and self-management PROM (Health and Self-Management in Diabetes [HASMID]), and 5-level version of EQ-5D. Dose adjustment for normal eating Online, Diabetes UK, and social media were used to recruit online survey participants. A panel of patients at a local National Health Service Trust was randomly allocated to participate in either survey version (two-thirds to postal version). Participants were asked to complete the survey again approximately 3 months later. RESULTS: A total of 2784 participants completed the survey (1908 online, 876 postal). The samples (online versus postal) differed; the online sample was younger, with a larger proportion of women and respondents with type 1 diabetes. There were significant differences in sociodemographic characteristics by type of diabetes across data collection mode. The proportion of respondents who responded again at point 2 was higher in the postal sample (525 postal, 698 online). CONCLUSION: The sociodemographic and health profile of samples of people with diabetes differed depending on whether they completed the online or postal survey. Differences are likely due to different recruitment methods and differences in those choosing to respond to different survey versions. Future PROM validation surveys should select data collection methods carefully because these can affect sample characteristics and results.

Inferring the Population Mean with Second-Order Information in Online Social Networks.

With the increasing use of online social networking platforms, online surveys are widely used in many fields, e.g., public health, business and sociology, to collect samples and to infer the population characteristics through self-reported data of respondents. Although the online surveys can protect the privacy of respondents, self-reporting is challenged by a low response rate and unreliable answers when the survey contains sensitive questions, such as drug use, sexual behaviors, abortion or criminal activity. To overcome this limitation, this paper develops an approach that collects the second-order information of the respondents, i.e., asking them about the characteristics of their friends, instead of asking the respondents' own characteristics directly. Then, we generate the inference about the population variable with the Hansen-Hurwitz estimator for the two classic sampling strategies (simple random sampling or random walk-based sampling). The method is evaluated by simulations on both artificial and real-world networks. Results show that the method is able to generate population estimates with high accuracy without knowing the respondents' own characteristics, and the biases of estimates under various settings are relatively small and are within acceptable limits. The new method offers an alternative way for implementing surveys online and is expected to be able to collect more reliable data with improved population inference on sensitive variables.

Use Mobile Apps to Link to Google Forms to Conduct Online Surveys.

The study aimed to evaluate changes in anxiety levels in patients with coronary artery disease before and after cardiac catheterization. The mobile applications LINE and GOOGLE were used to collect online data. A total of 188 patients participated in the study conducted at a regional teaching hospital in eastern Taiwan, and 51 of them completed the questionnaire twice, with a response rate of 27.1%. Although the second study noted the problem of incomplete data and low response rates, this study shows that online research methodology can still be improved and that using electronic questionnaires for data collection and statistical analysis reduces the risk of errors in online research and saves time in documentation. It is recommended to provide clear and detailed instructions when conducting online surveys and to review them carefully upon completion to ensure the completeness of the data collected.

Challenges in implementing treat-to-target in rheumatoid arthritis: a perspective from Brazilian rheumatologists.

BACKGROUND: Patient management in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has evolved to a "treat-to-target" (T2T) approach, which entails intensive treatment and regular follow-up with the goal of achieving low levels of disease activity or clinical remission. Even though a T2T approach is endorsed by professional organizations and yields superior outcomes, its implementation remains incomplete. EVEREST (EleVatE care in RhEumatoid arthritiS with Treat-to-target) is a quality-improvement initiative designed to improve the widespread implementation of a personalized T2T strategy and enable patients with RA to reach their full potential for remission. We describe the Brazilian results from the Global T2T Survey, first part of the EVEREST program. METHODS: Between June and September 2022, we conducted an online survey targeting rheumatologists in Brazil. Our objective was to evaluate the barriers and knowledge gaps hindering the effective implementation of T2T strategies. To achieve this, we employed a set of multiple-choice questions specifically crafted to elicit responses categorized in a structured order. RESULTS: 166 rheumatologists participated in the survey, 51% of them with more than 21 years of experience in rheumatology. Regarding the perceived challenges in the management of RA in clinical practice, the highest percentage of agreement/strong agreement among the participants was related to the contradictory results of disease activity measures (60%). In terms of the main barriers to assess the disease activity in clinical practice, the lack of adherence to treatment and contradictory assessments between patient-reported outcomes and composite measures were indicated by 75% and 59% of the participants, respectively, as a moderate/serious barrier. The most frequently knowledge and skill gaps related to the management of RA pointed out by the participants were on the difficulty to assess patients' health literacy (54% stated to have no more than intermediate knowledge on standardized methods to assess it and 43% no more than intermediate skills on determining the level of health literacy of the patients). In general, the use of tools to support the management of RA patients in clinical practice was indicated to be unusual by the participants. Self-reflection questionnaires, patient education materials and treatment consideration checklists were pointed out as the least frequently used tools (85%, 64% and 62% of the participants stated to use them never, rarely, or only sometimes, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate a greater need for design, selection, and uptake of practical strategies to further improve communication between healthcare providers and patients with RA, as well as for promoting well-informed, collaborative decision-making in their care.

Participation Rates in 11 National Dental Practice-Based Research Network Surveys 2014-2022.

Surveys of health professionals typically have low response rates, which have decreased in recent years. We report on the methods used, participation rates, and study time for 11 national questionnaire studies of dentists conducted from 2014-2022. Participation rates decreased (87%-25%). Concurrent with this decrease was a decrease in the intensity with which the practitioners were recruited. Participation rates were higher when postal mail invitation and paper options were used (84% vs. 58%, p < .001). Completion rates were nearly twice as high in studies that recruited in waves than those that did not (61% vs. 35%, p = .003). Study time varied from 2.6 to 28.4 weeks. Study time was longest when postal mail and completion on paper were used (26.0 vs. 11.3 weeks, p = .01). Among studies using only online methods, study time was longer when invitations were staggered than when all invitations went out in one bolus (means 12.0 and 5.2, p = .04). Study time was positively correlated with participation rates (Spearman r = .80, p = .005). General dentists participated at an average of 12% higher rates than specialists. Recruitment methodology, such as recruiting in waves or stages, should be considered when designing surveys.

Terror catastrophizing: association with anxiety, depression, and transgenerational effects.

Background & Objectives: Terror catastrophizing, defined as an ongoing fear of future terrorist attacks, is associated with a higher incidence of anxiety disorders, among other psychological impacts. However, previous studies examining terror catastrophizing's relationship to other mental health disorders are limited. The current study sought to determine if patients diagnosed with anxiety and depression would experience increased terror catastrophizing. Additionally, this study aimed to investigate whether parental terror catastrophizing increases children's internalizing symptoms.Design & Methods: Individuals were randomly drawn from the Danish Civil Registration System and invited to complete a series of questionnaires to measure terror catastrophizing tendency, lifetime parental trauma, and children's internalizing symptoms. In total, n = 4,175 invitees completed the survey of which 933 reported on a child between 6 and 18 years. Responses were analyzed using a generalized linear regression model.Results: Participants diagnosed with anxiety alone or comorbid with depression were more likely to experience symptoms of terror catastrophizing than undiagnosed participants (ß = 0.10, p < .001; ß = 0.07, p = .012). Furthermore, the parental tendency to catastrophize terror was associated with higher internalizing symptoms in children (ß = 0.09, p = .006), even after taking parental diagnoses, as well as lifetime and childhood trauma into account.Conclusion: The results can inform clinical practices to account for a patient's potential to exhibit increased terror catastrophizing tendencies or be more affected by traumatic events. Additionally, they can offer insights for designing novel preventative interventions for the whole family, due to the relation between parental tendencies for terror catastrophizing and the internalizing symptoms observed in children.

Diagnoses of comorbid anxiety and depression tend to have increased terror catastrophizing (TC); however, a sole anxiety diagnosis is associated with more TC, while sole depression is not.Informative for clinical practice to understand how patients with TC tendencies are more likely to be impacted by traumatic events.Parental TC symptoms are linked to internalizing symptoms in children; thus, this could inform the design of novel preventative interventions.

The Impact of Incentives on Data Collection for Online Surveys: Social Media Recruitment Study.

BACKGROUND: The use of targeted advertisements on social media platforms (eg, Facebook and Instagram) has become increasingly popular for recruiting participants for online survey research. Many of these surveys offer monetary incentives for survey completion in the form of gift cards; however, little is known about whether the incentive amount impacts the cost, speed, and quality of data collection. OBJECTIVE: This experiment addresses this gap in the literature by examining how different incentives in paid advertising campaigns on Instagram for completing a 10-minute online survey influence the response rate, recruitment advertising cost, data quality, and length of data collection. METHODS: This experiment tested three incentive conditions using three Instagram campaigns that were each allocated a US $1400 budget to spend over a maximum of 4 days; ads targeted users aged 15-24 years in three nonadjacent designated market areas of similar size to avoid overlapping audiences. Four ad creatives were designed for each campaign; all ads featured the same images and text, but the incentive amount varied: no incentive, US $5 gift card, and US $15 gift card. All ads had a clickable link that directed users to an eligibility screener and a 10-minute online survey, if eligible. Each campaign ran for either the full allotted time (4 days) or until there were 150 total survey completes, prior to data quality checks for fraud. RESULTS: The US $15 incentive condition resulted in the quickest and cheapest data collection, requiring 17 hours and ad spending of US $338.64 to achieve 142 survey completes. The US $5 condition took more than twice as long (39 hours) and cost US $864.33 in ad spending to achieve 148 survey completes. The no-incentive condition ran for 60 hours, spending nearly the full budget (US $1398.23), and achieved only 24 survey completes. The US $15 and US $5 incentive conditions had similar levels of fraudulent respondents, whereas the no-incentive condition had no fraudulent respondents. The completion rate for the US $15 and US $5 incentive conditions were 93.4% (155/166) and 89.8% (149/166), respectively, while the completion rate for the no-incentive condition was 43.6% (24/55). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, we found that a higher incentive resulted in quicker data collection, less money spent on ads, and higher response rates, despite some fraudulent cases that had to be dropped from the sample. However, when considering the total incentive amounts in addition to the ad spending, a US $5 incentive appeared to be the most cost-effective data collection option. Other costs associated with running a campaign for a longer period should also be considered. A longer experiment is warranted to determine whether fraud varies over time across conditions.

Impact of Incentives on Physician Participation in Research Surveys: Randomized Experiment.

BACKGROUND: Web-based surveys can be effective data collection instruments; however, participation is notoriously low, particularly among professionals such as physicians. Few studies have explored the impact of varying amounts of monetary incentives on survey completion. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to conduct a randomized study to assess how different incentive amounts influenced survey participation among neurologists in the United States. METHODS: We distributed a web-based survey using standardized email text to 21,753 individuals randomly divided into 5 equal groups (≈4351 per group). In phase 1, each group was assigned to receive either nothing or a gift card for US $10, $20, $50, or $75, which was noted in the email subject and text. After 4 reminders, phase 2 began and each remaining individual was offered a US $75 gift card to complete the survey. We calculated and compared the proportions who completed the survey by phase 1 arm, both before and after the incentive change, using a chi-square test. As a secondary outcome, we also looked at survey participation as opposed to completion. RESULTS: For the 20,820 emails delivered, 879 (4.2%) recipients completed the survey; of the 879 recipients, 622 (70.8%) were neurologists. Among the neurologists, most were male (412/622, 66.2%), White (430/622, 69.1%), non-Hispanic (592/622, 95.2%), graduates of American medical schools (465/622, 74.8%), and board certified (598/622, 96.1%). A total of 39.7% (247/622) completed their neurology residency more than 20 years ago, and 62.4% (388/622) practiced in an urban setting. For phase 1, the proportions of respondents completing the survey increased as the incentive amount increased (46/4185, 1.1%; 76/4165, 1.8%; 86/4160, 2.1%; 104/4162, 2.5%; and 119/4148, 2.9%, for US $0, $10, $20, $50, and $75, respectively; P<.001). In phase 2, the survey completion rate for the former US $0 arm increased to 3% (116/3928). Those originally offered US $10, $20, $50, and $75 who had not yet participated were less likely to participate compared with the former US $0 arm (116/3928, 3%; 90/3936, 2.3%; 80/3902, 2.1%; 88/3845, 2.3%; and 74/3878, 1.9%, for US $0, $10, $20, $50, and $75, respectively; P=.03). For our secondary outcome of survey participation, a trend similar to that of survey completion was observed in phase 1 (55/4185, 1.3%; 85/4165, 2%; 96/4160, 2.3%; 118/4162, 2.8%; and 135/4148, 3.3%, for US $0, $10, $20, $50, and $75, respectively; P<.001) and phase 2 (116/3928, 3%; 90/3936, 2.3%; 80/3902, 2.1%; 88/3845, 2.3%; and 86/3845, 2.2%, for US $0, $10, $20, $50, and $75, respectively; P=.10). CONCLUSIONS: As expected, monetary incentives can boost physician survey participation and completion, with a positive correlation between the amount offered and participation.

Using Social Influence Strategies to Improve Rates of Online Mental Health Survey Participation: Results from Two Experiments.

Online surveys are routinely used in mental health screening and treatment follow-up assessment, though they can yield low response rates. We tested the effects of social psychology-informed influence strategies for increasing rates of participation in an online mental health screening survey (Experiment 1) and a treatment follow-up survey (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1 (N = 45,569), embedding one or any combination of three motivational appeals (personal gain, community gain, and inclusivity) in screening survey invitation and reminder emails unexpectedly led to lower rates of survey participation compared to when the appeals were not included (overall participation rate = 12.02%, ORs = 0.75 to 0.97, ps < .001). In Experiment 2 (N = 873), a video of a TikTok influencer encouraging survey participation embedded in treatment follow-up survey invitation and reminder emails did not significantly affect survey completion compared to a humorous gif unrelated to survey participation (overall participation rate = 47.88%, OR = 1.18, p = .200). Moderator analyses revealed that the video led to higher rates of participation than the gif among White participants (OR = 1.39, p = .031) and non-Hispanic participants (OR = 1.35, p = .029) only, whereas the video led to lower rates of participation than the gif among students who did not disclose their race (OR = 0.31, p = .010). Results suggested that efforts to improve online survey participation should be balanced with possible downsides (e.g., added email length) and should be evaluated for differential performance among population subgroups prior to widespread implementation.

Critical Appraisal of Electronic Surveys: An Integrated Literature Review.

Background and Purpose: Electronic surveys are an essential data collection method in survey research but there are pros and cons. The purpose of this literature review was to understand the advantages and disadvantages of electronic surveys in research. Methods: An integrated literature review was performed. Results: Twenty publications met the criteria and were analyzed. The advantages of electronic surveys include speed, cost, convenience, flexibility, ease of analyses, global reach, reduced errors, and question diversity. The disadvantages of electronic surveys are response outcomes (nonresponse, item-nonresponse/poor completion rates, and careless responding errors) and digital literacy requirements. Conclusions: The advantages of electronic surveys outweigh their disadvantages, but researchers must understand the problems associated with electronic surveys and avoid them.