The use of telephone interviews for epidemiologic and public health studies has increased in recent years. Since telephone surveys are susceptible to lower response rates than personal interviews, several attempts have been reported to increase respondents' compliance using various precontact procedures. This investigation evaluates the comparative effectiveness of three techniques to enhance compliance with a relatively long telephone interview on epidemiologic topics. The theoretical and practical applications in the domain of telephone surveys of two techniques, the foot-in-the-door and the low ball, commonly considered nonpressure techniques, are discussed. A newly suggested, combined compliance procedure is also introduced and tested. Results show that compliance was greater for the new method when compared with each of the other two methods. Moreover, each of the three methods outperformed a control condition. The theoretical models developed to devise and explain the new techniques received empirical support in a public health survey employing 335 adult residents of Tel Aviv, Israel, in May 1988.
When resources are limited, decisions must be made regarding which public health activities to undertake. A priority rating system, which incorporates various data sources, can be used to quantify disease problems or risk factors, or both. The model ...
AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and precautionary behaviors were assessed among a random sample of Michigan-licensed emergency medical service (EMS) professionals between June and August 1988. Of 2,000 mailed questionnaires, 1,020 were returned (5...
Drug overdose mortality data for narcotics and cocaine for Texas for 1976-87 reveal a cyclic pattern of narcotics mortality falling from 0.92 per 100,000 population in 1976 to a low of 0.13 in 1979, and rising to 0.62 in 1986. The data also show a sh...
Rakowski, W; Lefebvre, R C; Assaf, A R; Lasater, T M; Carleton, R A;
Published Date:
1990 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 105(5):481-491
Description:
Independently done surveys of a target population can make an important contribution to knowledge about the determinants of personal health behavior by highlighting variables that consistently emerge as significant predictors. This investigation exam...
The effect of ownership on the quality and cost of care in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) was examined using unadjusted and adjusted mortality rates for such facilities in Illinois for the 1986-87 reporting year. Results indicated that when using ...
McLaughlin, J K; Hrubec, Z; Heineman, E F; Blot, W J; Fraumeni, J F;
Published Date:
1990 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 105(5):535-537
Description:
The cigarette smoking habits of a cohort of almost 250,000 U. S. veterans were analyzed for their relationship to renal cancer. Information on smoking habits was collected in 1954 and in 1957 for nonrespondents to the first effort. Of the veterans, 8...
In 1988-89, the use of menstrual sanitary products was surveyed among 699 white, 477 black, and 425 Mexican American women to detect age and racial or ethnic differences in product use that might explain the differences in the incidence of toxic shoc...
The literature was reviewed to determine whether social model detoxification programs are safe and adequate for treating persons with alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The alcohol withdrawal syndrome has three stages. Each stage, more severe than the last...
Women without health insurance and those covered by Medicaid have been shown to obtain prenatal care later in pregnancy and make fewer visits for care than do women with private insurance. Factors that keep women from obtaining care include inadequat...
Seroprevalence surveys of incoming inmates provide useful sentinel information on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection rates among groups that practice HIV-associated high-risk behaviors. In addition, such data are beneficial to corrections o...
Data from surveys of the elderly are used by policy analysts to design health services programs. Consequently, the quality of survey data on elderly respondents has important implications for this growing segment of society: improving the quality of ...
The literature documents a significant decline in the prevalence of dental caries among children. Unfortunately, dental decay rates of children of migrant workers remain high. This study collected data from 885 migrant children in central Washington....
The investigators interviewed 100 drug users in a detoxification facility before and after they received information about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The drug users already had a considerable amo...
Rokaw, William M.; Mercy, James A.; Smith, Jack C.;
Published Date:
1990 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 105(5):447-455
Description:
Both the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Mortality System and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting System measure the numbers and characteristics of homicide in the United States. There are important differen...
Moore, Roscoe M.; Jeng, Lana L.; Kaczmarek, Ronald G.; Placek, Paul J.;
Published Date:
1990 Sep-Oct
Source:
Public Health Rep. 105(5):471-475
Description:
Medical devices and diagnostic imaging procedures such as ultrasound, X-rays, and electronic fetal monitoring devices are used in the medical care of many pregnant women today. The responsibility for the safety and effectiveness of these diagnostic t...
Finlay, Alyssa; Lancaster, Joey; Holtz, Timothy H; Weyer, Karin; Miranda, Abe; van der Walt, Martie;
Published Date:
Jan 20 2012
Source:
BMC Public Health. 2011; 12:56.
Description:
BackgroundPersons who default from tuberculosis treatment are at risk for clinical deterioration and complications including worsening drug resistance and death. Our objective was to identify risk factors associated with tuberculosis (TB) treatment d...
Lando, H A; Johnson, K M; Graham-Tomasi, R P; McGovern, P G; Solberg, L;
Published Date:
1992 May-Jun
Source:
Public Health Rep. 107(3):340-344
Description:
Little is known about smoking patterns of urban American Indians and their interest in quitting. Most published research has focused upon American Indians who live on rural reservations. In this study, personal interviews were conducted with a conven...
Few studies have addressed the association of food insecurity with place of residence and perceptions of collective social functioning such as perceived social capital and perceived personal disparity. This study assessed the association between food...
Becker, M H; Radius, S M; Rosenstock, I M; Drachman, R H; Schuberth, K C; Teets, K C;
Published Date:
1978 May-Jun
Source:
Public Health Rep. 93(3):268-277
File Type:
[PDF - 1.75 MB]
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