PMID- 27008417
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20170106
LR  - 20221207
IS  - 1532-2491 (Electronic)
IS  - 1082-6084 (Print)
IS  - 1082-6084 (Linking)
VI  - 51
IP  - 5
DP  - 2016
TI  - Tracking and Locating Itinerant Subjects With a Rechargeable Incentive Card: 
      Results of a Randomized Trial.
PG  - 658-63
LID - 10.3109/10826084.2015.1126748 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: High attrition among research participants undermines the validity 
      and generalizability of field research. This study contrasted two incentivizing 
      methods--money orders (MOs) or rechargeable incentive cards (RICs)--with regard 
      to rates of participants' study engagement and follow-up contact over a 6-month 
      period. METHODS: Substance abusers (N = 303) in Los Angeles, California were 
      recruited and randomized to either an MO (control) or RIC (experimental) 
      condition. All participants were asked to call the researchers at the beginning 
      of each calendar month for the ensuing 5 months to update their locator 
      information, even if nothing had changed. Each call resulted in a $10 payment, 
      issued immediately via the RIC system or by MO by mail. Research staff located 
      and interviewed all participants at Month 6. Contact logs assessed level of 
      effort required to locate participants and conduct follow-up interviews. RESULTS: 
      Relative to controls, RIC participants, especially those with low ability to 
      defer gratification, initiated more monthly calls. Six-month follow-up rates did 
      not differ between RIC (75%) and controls (79%), though the RIC condition was 
      associated with an average staff time savings of 39.8 minutes per study 
      participant. DISCUSSION: For longitudinal public health research involving 
      itinerant study participants, the RIC method produces a modest benefit in study 
      engagement and reduced staff time devoted to participant tracking and payments. 
      However, the overall cost-effectiveness of this approach will depend on the 
      pricing model of the card-issuing vendor (which in turns depends on the scale of 
      the project, with per-unit costs falling for larger projects).
FAU - Farabee, David
AU  - Farabee D
AD  - a Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA , Los Angeles , 
      California , USA.
FAU - Hawken, Angela
AU  - Hawken A
AD  - b School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University , Malibu , California , USA.
FAU - Calhoun, Stacy
AU  - Calhoun S
AD  - c Department of Criminology, Law and Society, UC Irvine , Irvine , California , 
      USA.
FAU - Veliz, Robert
AU  - Veliz R
AD  - a Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA , Los Angeles , 
      California , USA.
FAU - Grossman, Jason
AU  - Grossman J
AD  - a Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA , Los Angeles , 
      California , USA.
FAU - Zhang, Yiwen
AU  - Zhang Y
AD  - b School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University , Malibu , California , USA.
LA  - eng
GR  - R42 DA025387/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States
GR  - R42DA02538/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Randomized Controlled Trial
PT  - Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
DEP - 20160323
PL  - England
TA  - Subst Use Misuse
JT  - Substance use & misuse
JID - 9602153
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - California
MH  - Cost-Benefit Analysis
MH  - Female
MH  - Follow-Up Studies
MH  - *Ill-Housed Persons
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - *Motivation
MH  - Research Design
MH  - *Substance-Related Disorders
MH  - Young Adult
PMC - PMC4874473
MID - NIHMS778090
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Follow-up
OT  - incentivizing
OT  - tracking
EDAT- 2016/03/24 06:00
MHDA- 2017/01/07 06:00
PMCR- 2017/04/15
CRDT- 2016/03/24 06:00
PHST- 2016/03/24 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2016/03/24 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2017/01/07 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2017/04/15 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.3109/10826084.2015.1126748 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Subst Use Misuse. 2016;51(5):658-63. doi: 10.3109/10826084.2015.1126748. Epub 
      2016 Mar 23.