We should really keep in touch: predictors of the ability to maintain contact with contraception clinical trial participants over 12 months

Abstract

Objectives This study assesses the ability to maintain contact with participants enrolled in an emergency contraception (EC) trial with 12 months of follow-up based on the modes of contact they provided at enrollment. Study Design Data came from a clinical trial offering women the copper intrauterine device (IUD) or oral levonorgestrel (LNG) for EC. A modified Poisson regression was used to assess predictors associated with the ability to contact study participants 12 months after enrollment. Results Data were available for 542 participants; 443 (82%) could be contacted at 12 months. Contact at 12 months was greatest for those whose preferred method of contact was text messaging, email, or any (62/68 91% contacted) and worst for the 18 who had a landline phone (only 7 contacted, 39%). After controlling for age, having an email address, text messaging, language preference, type of EC chosen, and insurance, preferred contact other than phone increased the likelihood of follow-up by 10% (RR 1.1 95% CI 1.0-1.2), while having a landline reduced a woman's likelihood of being contacted at 12 months by 50% compared to women with a contract cell (RR 0.5; 95% CI 0.3-1.0). Conclusion The few women with a landline for contact had poor follow-up at one year while women who preferred email or text had the highest rate of follow-up. Implications Understanding how best to reduce loss to follow-up is an essential component of conducting a contraceptive clinical trial. Improved participant retention maximizes internal validity and allows for important clinical outcomes, such as pregnancy, to be assessed.

Technological aids for improving longitudinal research on substance use disorders

“…Similar to email, the ubiquity of cellphones has made text messaging an easy and low-cost method for staying connected to participants in order to increase long-term follow-up rates [ 49 ]. Several studies have now shown text messaging to be a useful method for assessment and intervention delivery (see Measuring Drug Use and Related Outcomes section); however, it also provides a simple way to send appointment reminders for telephone and face-to-face interviews.…”

A randomized controlled trial of daily text messages versus monthly paper diaries to collect bleeding data after intrauterine device insertion

“…Several studies have used text messaging to collect data in clinical trials [12,13,20–22] , with high response rates and good reliability and validity [20,22] . Text messages increase oral contraceptive pill continuation rates and reduce loss to follow-up in clinical trials [13,23] .…”