Investigating the effect of providing monetary incentives to participants on completion rates of referred co-respondents: An embedded randomized controlled trial.
Contemp Clin Trials Commun
; 38: 101267, 2024 Apr.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38419810
ABSTRACT
Background:
The use of a second informant (co-respondent) is a common method of identifying potential bias in outcome data (e.g., parent-report child outcomes). There is, however, limited evidence regarding methods of increasing response rates from co-respondents. The use of financial incentives is associated with higher levels of engagement and follow-up data collection in online surveys. This study investigated whether financial incentives paid to index participants in an online trial of a parenting-focused intervention, would lead to higher levels of co-respondent data collection.Methods:
A study within a trial (SWAT) using a parallel group RCT design. Participants in the host study (an RCT of an online intervention) were randomised into one of two SWAT arms received/did not receive a £15 voucher when referred co-respondent completed baseline measures. Primary outcome was completion (No/Yes) of Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS or SCAS-Pre) at baseline. Additional analysis explored impact of incentives on data quality.Results:
Intention to treat analysis of 899 parents (183 co-respondents) in the no-incentive arm, and 911 parents (199 co-respondents) in incentive arm. Nomination of co-respondents was similar between incentive arms. The RR for the incentive arm compared to the no incentive arm was 1.13 (95% CI 0.91 to 1.41, p = 0.264) indicating that incentives did not impact completion of outcomes by consented co-respondents. There were no indications of different data quality between arms.Discussion:
The finding that payment of financial incentives to index participant does not lead to greater levels of co-respondent outcome completion suggests that careful consideration should be made before allocating resources in this way in future trials. Trial registration The host study was registered at Study Record | ClinicalTrials.gov and the SWAT study was registered in the SWAT Store | The Northern Ireland Network for Trials Methodology Research (qub.ac.uk) SWAT number 143 Filetoupload,1099612,en.pdf (qub.ac.uk).
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Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Contemp Clin Trials Commun
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Reino Unido