TY - JOUR
T1 - Remote consent approaches for mobile phone surveys of non-communicable disease risk factors in Colombia and Uganda
T2 - A randomized study
AU - Ali, Joseph
AU - Nagarajan, Madhuram
AU - Mwaka, Erisa S.
AU - Rutebemberwa, Elizeus
AU - Vecino-Ortiz, Andres I.
AU - Quintero, Angelica Tórres
AU - Rodriguez-Patarroyo, Mariana
AU - Maniar, Vidhi
AU - Al Kibria, Gulam Muhammed
AU - Labrique, Alain B.
AU - Pariyo, George W.
AU - Gibson, Dustin G.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was made possible with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies (https://www. bloomberg.org) and the people of Australia through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (https://www.dfat.gov.au/) through award number 119668. The contents are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloomberg Philanthropies or the Government of Australia. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to those in Colombia and Uganda who took the time to participate in the mobile phone survey.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright: © 2022 Ali et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Introduction Automated mobile phone surveys (MPS) can be used to collect public health data of various types to inform health policy and programs globally. One challenge in administering MPS is identification of an appropriate and effective participant consent process. This study investigated the impact of different survey consent approaches on participant disposition (response characteristics and understanding of the purpose of the survey) within the context of an MPS that measured noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk factors across Colombia and Uganda. Methods Participants were randomized to one of five consent approaches, with consent modules varying by the consent disclosure and mode of authorization. The control arm consisted of a standard consent disclosure and a combined opt-in/opt-out mode of authorization. The other four arms consist of a modified consent disclosure and one of four different forms of authorization (i.e., opt-in, opt-out, combined opt-in/opt-out, or implied). Data related to respondent disposition and respondent understanding of the survey purpose were analyzed. Results Among 1889 completed surveys in Colombia, differences in contact, response, refusal, and cooperation rates by study arms were found. About 68% of respondents correctly identified the survey purpose, with no significant difference by study arm. Participants reporting higher levels of education and urban residency were more likely to identify the purpose correctly. Participants were also more likely to accurately identify the survey purpose after completing several survey modules, compared to immediately following the consent disclosure (78.8% vs 54.2% correct, p<0.001). In Uganda, 1890 completed surveys were collected. Though there were differences in contact, refusal, and cooperation rates by study arm, response rates were similar across arms. About 37% of respondents identified the survey purpose correctly, with no difference by arm. Those with higher levels of education and who completed the survey in English were able to more accurately identify the survey purpose. Again, participants were more likely to accurately identify the purpose of the survey after completing several NCD modules, compared to immediately following the consent module (42.0% vs 32.2% correct, p = 0.013). Conclusion This study contributes to the limited available evidence regarding consent procedures for automated MPS. Future studies should develop and trial additional interventions to enhance consent for automated public health surveys, and measure other dimensions of participant engagement and understanding.
AB - Introduction Automated mobile phone surveys (MPS) can be used to collect public health data of various types to inform health policy and programs globally. One challenge in administering MPS is identification of an appropriate and effective participant consent process. This study investigated the impact of different survey consent approaches on participant disposition (response characteristics and understanding of the purpose of the survey) within the context of an MPS that measured noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk factors across Colombia and Uganda. Methods Participants were randomized to one of five consent approaches, with consent modules varying by the consent disclosure and mode of authorization. The control arm consisted of a standard consent disclosure and a combined opt-in/opt-out mode of authorization. The other four arms consist of a modified consent disclosure and one of four different forms of authorization (i.e., opt-in, opt-out, combined opt-in/opt-out, or implied). Data related to respondent disposition and respondent understanding of the survey purpose were analyzed. Results Among 1889 completed surveys in Colombia, differences in contact, response, refusal, and cooperation rates by study arms were found. About 68% of respondents correctly identified the survey purpose, with no significant difference by study arm. Participants reporting higher levels of education and urban residency were more likely to identify the purpose correctly. Participants were also more likely to accurately identify the survey purpose after completing several survey modules, compared to immediately following the consent disclosure (78.8% vs 54.2% correct, p<0.001). In Uganda, 1890 completed surveys were collected. Though there were differences in contact, refusal, and cooperation rates by study arm, response rates were similar across arms. About 37% of respondents identified the survey purpose correctly, with no difference by arm. Those with higher levels of education and who completed the survey in English were able to more accurately identify the survey purpose. Again, participants were more likely to accurately identify the purpose of the survey after completing several NCD modules, compared to immediately following the consent module (42.0% vs 32.2% correct, p = 0.013). Conclusion This study contributes to the limited available evidence regarding consent procedures for automated MPS. Future studies should develop and trial additional interventions to enhance consent for automated public health surveys, and measure other dimensions of participant engagement and understanding.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85144590605&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85144590605&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0279236
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0279236
M3 - Article
C2 - 36542631
AN - SCOPUS:85144590605
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 17
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 12 December
M1 - e0279236
ER -