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Frequently repeated measurements-our experience of collecting data with SMS

Axén, I. ; Jensen, I. ; Butler Forslund, E. ; Grahn, B. LU ; Jørgensen, V. ; Opava, C. H. and Bodin, L. (2020) In BMC Medical Research Methodology 20.
Abstract

Background: As technology is advancing, so are the possibilities for new data collection methods in research, potentially improving data quality and validity of the results. In Sweden, a system using frequent repeated data collection using text messages, SMS Track, has been used in clinical research for more than a decade. In this paper, compliance with repeated text message questions was examined across five different studies, i.e. if compliance was 1: associated with study-specific factors (age or gender of the subjects, the condition, its' severity or course, i.e. improvement, relapse or steady state) and/or. 2: associated with the methodology itself (the question being asked, the frequency and number of questions, duration of data... (More)

Background: As technology is advancing, so are the possibilities for new data collection methods in research, potentially improving data quality and validity of the results. In Sweden, a system using frequent repeated data collection using text messages, SMS Track, has been used in clinical research for more than a decade. In this paper, compliance with repeated text message questions was examined across five different studies, i.e. if compliance was 1: associated with study-specific factors (age or gender of the subjects, the condition, its' severity or course, i.e. improvement, relapse or steady state) and/or. 2: associated with the methodology itself (the question being asked, the frequency and number of questions, duration of data collection, initial compliance or the management of the system). Methods: Descriptive comparisons were done across five studies. Three studies were collecting weekly responses over at least 52 weeks ("Weekly studies") and were used to investigate the effect of age, sex and pain severity on compliance, the effect of early compliance for late compliance, and finally the early occurrence of two successive weeks with non-compliance. Result: Compliance was excellent across all five studies, and only influenced somewhat by age, sex and pain-level. The factor "study" remained significant in the final model thus the observed differences may be a result of the conditions studied but does not seem to be attributable to severity or development of these conditions. Number and frequency of questions did not influence compliance, nor did study duration. Conclusions: Compliance was excellent in the included studies and was not affected by population factors. However, differences in compliance were observed that cannot be easily explained and warrant further investigation. In particular, the nature of the variables or the management of the study are potential areas for further investigations.

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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Compliance, Ecological momentary assessment, Repeated measures, Text message
in
BMC Medical Research Methodology
volume
20
article number
124
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:32429834
  • scopus:85084962262
ISSN
1471-2288
DOI
10.1186/s12874-020-01013-y
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1299d88e-ff01-49e8-a665-35b0aa844176
date added to LUP
2020-06-16 14:46:05
date last changed
2024-05-01 12:32:27
@article{1299d88e-ff01-49e8-a665-35b0aa844176,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: As technology is advancing, so are the possibilities for new data collection methods in research, potentially improving data quality and validity of the results. In Sweden, a system using frequent repeated data collection using text messages, SMS Track, has been used in clinical research for more than a decade. In this paper, compliance with repeated text message questions was examined across five different studies, i.e. if compliance was 1: associated with study-specific factors (age or gender of the subjects, the condition, its' severity or course, i.e. improvement, relapse or steady state) and/or. 2: associated with the methodology itself (the question being asked, the frequency and number of questions, duration of data collection, initial compliance or the management of the system). Methods: Descriptive comparisons were done across five studies. Three studies were collecting weekly responses over at least 52 weeks ("Weekly studies") and were used to investigate the effect of age, sex and pain severity on compliance, the effect of early compliance for late compliance, and finally the early occurrence of two successive weeks with non-compliance. Result: Compliance was excellent across all five studies, and only influenced somewhat by age, sex and pain-level. The factor "study" remained significant in the final model thus the observed differences may be a result of the conditions studied but does not seem to be attributable to severity or development of these conditions. Number and frequency of questions did not influence compliance, nor did study duration. Conclusions: Compliance was excellent in the included studies and was not affected by population factors. However, differences in compliance were observed that cannot be easily explained and warrant further investigation. In particular, the nature of the variables or the management of the study are potential areas for further investigations.</p>}},
  author       = {{Axén, I. and Jensen, I. and Butler Forslund, E. and Grahn, B. and Jørgensen, V. and Opava, C. H. and Bodin, L.}},
  issn         = {{1471-2288}},
  keywords     = {{Compliance; Ecological momentary assessment; Repeated measures; Text message}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Medical Research Methodology}},
  title        = {{Frequently repeated measurements-our experience of collecting data with SMS}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12874-020-01013-y}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s12874-020-01013-y}},
  volume       = {{20}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}