Attrition rate in infant fNIRS research: A meta-analysis

Understanding the trends and predictors of attrition rate, or the proportion of collected data that is excluded from the final analyses, is important for accurate research planning, assessing data integrity, and ensuring generalizability. In this pre-registered meta-analysis, we reviewed 182 publications in infant (0–24 months) functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) research published from 1998 to April 9, 2020, and investigated the trends and predictors of attrition. The average attrition rate was 34.23% among 272 experiments across all 182 publications. Among a subset of 136 experiments that reported the specific reasons for subject exclusion, 21.50% of the attrition was infant-driven, while 14.21% was signal-driven. Subject characteristics (e.g., age) and study design (e.g., fNIRS cap configuration, block/trial design, and stimulus type) predicted the total and subject-driven attrition rates, suggesting that modifying the recruitment pool or the study design can meaningfully reduce the attrition rate in infant fNIRS research. Based on the findings, we established guidelines for reporting the attrition rate for scientific transparency and made recommendations to minimize the attrition rates. This research can facilitate developmental cognitive neuroscientists in their quest toward increasingly rigorous and representative research.     

Adapting an evidence-based model to retain adolescent study participants in longitudinal research

Maintaining contact with and collecting outcome data from adolescent study participants can present a significant challenge for researchers conducting longitudinal studies. Establishing an organized and effective protocol for participant follow-up is crucial to reduce attrition and maintain high retention rates. This paper describes our methods in using and adapting the evidence-based Engagement, Verification, Maintenance, and Confirmation (EVMC) model to follow up with adolescents 6 and 12 months after implementation of a health program. It extends previous research by focusing on two key modifications to the model: (1) the central role of cell phones and texting to maintain contact with study participants throughout the EVMC process and, (2) use of responsive two-way communication between staff and participants and flexible administration modes and methods in the confirmation phase to ensure that busy teens not only respond to contacts, but also complete data collection. These strategies have resulted in high overall retention rates (87–91%) with adolescent study participants at each follow-up data collection point without the utilization of other, more involved tracking measures. The methods and findings presented may be valuable for other researchers with limited resources planning for or engaged in collecting follow-up outcome data from adolescents enrolled in longitudinal studies.     

Factors influencing enrolment: A case study from Birth to Twenty, the 1990 birth cohort in Soweto–Johannesburg

Longitudinal studies offer significant advantages in rendering data commensurate with the complexity of human development. However, incomplete enrolment and attrition over time can introduce bias. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of evaluative information on cohorts in developing countries. This paper documents various strategies adopted to minimize loss to follow up and describes a retrospective analysis of a small group of families who were missed during initial enrolment and through several subsequent rounds of data collection of the Birth to Twenty (BT20) birth cohort in Soweto–Johannesburg, South Africa that began in 1990. A purposive case study approach was used, and 10 of the 119 families missed at enrolment were interviewed to investigate why these families were not enrolled into the study. The findings demonstrate that high mobility, both within urban areas and between urban and rural areas, are a major challenge for longitudinal studies in densely populated urban areas. In addition, enrolment was also affected by individuals changing their names, largely motivated to facilitate access to employment under Apartheid, as well as varying motivations for participating in research. Longitudinal studies in the developing country context must be mindful of the political, social and economic climate that influences enrolment and ongoing cohort maintenance.     

The Use of Protective Behaviors in Relation to Gambling Among College Students

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate a measure of gambling protective behaviors and examine the relationship between indices of gambling behavior, including frequency, quantity and problem severity, and the use of gambling protective behaviors. Undergraduates from a large public university (N = 4,014) completed a web-based screening survey comprising measures of gambling and health behaviors, from which those who gambled within the past 6-months (n = 1,922, 48 % of the entire sample) were invited to complete the baseline assessment, including the Gambling Protective Behavior Scale (GPBS). The GPBS was determined to have two subscales, primarily consisting of harm reduction strategies that reduce the money or time spent on gambling, or avoidance strategies that help to minimize engagement in gambling activities. Hierarchical multiple regressions found participants’ sex moderated the relationship between use of protective behavioral strategies and gambling outcomes. However, effects were in the opposite direction to those hypothesized. Specifically, because women gambled less, had lower gambling problem severity, and reported more frequent use of gambling avoidance protective behaviors, the relationship between use of gambling protective behaviors and gambling outcomes was stronger for men than women. Men who used more avoidance strategies gambled less frequently compared to men who used fewer avoidance strategies. Similarly, men who used more harm reduction strategies spent fewer dollars on gambling and had lower scores on gambling problem severity compared to men using fewer harm reduction strategies for women these relationships were less pronounced. Implications of incorporating specific gambling protective behavioral strategies into prevention and treatment programs are discussed.     

Connecting child care quality to child outcomes: drawing policy lessons from nonexperimental data

Effective early childhood intervention and child care policies should be based on an understanding of the effects of child care quality and type on child well-being. This article describes methods for securing unbiased estimates of these effects from nonexperimental data. It focuses on longitudinal studies like the one developed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Early Child Care Research Network. This article first describes bias problems that arise in analyses of nonexperimental data and then explains strategies for controlling for biases arising from parental selection of child care. Next, it comments on attrition in longitudinal studies and outlines some strategies for addressing possible attrition bias. Finally, it discusses the need to translate "effect sizes" derived from these studies into the kinds of cost and benefit information needed by policy makers.     

Risk factors for attrition from an evidence-based parenting program: Findings from the Netherlands

Parent management training programs for the treatment of childhood conduct problems are increasingly being transported from their country of origin to international settings. Family interactions, however, may be influenced by different cultural expectations and children's mental health problems may be addressed within different systems. Demonstrating reductions in symptoms within the new population is insufficient to support the wide-scale transport of a treatment model. Implementation outcomes such as the rates of treatment retention and factors related to treatment attrition must also be considered. We explored predictors of attrition in families from the Netherlands referred to the evidence-based parenting program Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). Participants included 40 children with conduct problems (2–7 years; 68% boys) and their caregivers. Attrition (40%) was somewhat lower than findings with similar community samples in the US. Significant predictors of attrition were child age and maternal levels of internalizing symptoms. Low parental demandingness and high child compliance before start of treatment were related to early attrition within twelve treatment sessions. Meeting the needs of families at risk for attrition is an important goal for parent management training programs within and outside the US if families in need of services are to benefit from them.     

Recruitment and retention of child welfare workers in longitudinal research: Successful strategies from the Florida Study of Professionals for Safe Families

Longitudinal panel studies are effective strategies to assess the personal impact of child welfare work, as well as employment outcomes of workers over time. However, longitudinal studies encounter obstacles such as disproportionate attrition that threaten the validity of findings. This paper provides an overview of the Florida Study of Professionals for Safe Families (FSPSF), a 5-year longitudinal panel study of newly hired workers into the child welfare workforce. The purpose of this paper is three-fold: 1) describe the study methodology and recruitment and retention techniques for the FSPSF; 2) illustrate Estrada and colleagues' Tailored Panel Management framework (2014) through FSPSF methodological decisions; and 3) provide guidance and time estimates of key tasks for those interested in undertaking similar projects, with a particular focus on electronic data collection and communication strategies. Initial results are excellent – 84% of all eligible workers completed baseline surveys (n = 1,451). At Wave 2 (6 months), 81% of those workers were retained, with preliminary findings of 84% retention of the original baseline respondents at Wave 3 (12 months).     

Gender differences in faculty attrition in the USA

In this study, we examined possible gender differences in reasons for faculty attrition during the last 20 years at a small women's liberal arts college. The attrition rate was calculated from archival data collected through old college directories. As in earlier studies, the attrition rate was higher for women (31%) than for men (18.5%). Reasons for leaving the college were assessed in an online survey completed by 45 out of 66 tenure-track or tenured professors who left (excluding retirees). Work–family conflict was the most frequently cited reason for leaving, with disproportionately more women than men giving this reason. Open-ended responses revealed that work–family conflict typically referred to the difficulty of coordinating two careers. Female faculty who left were also significantly more dissatisfied than males with the support for balancing work and family life at the college. The need for colleges to create spousal policies to help faculty coordinate dual careers was discussed.     

Reducing attrition in physical activity programs for older adults

This study investigated attrition in a 6-month physical activity intervention for older adults. The program was based on the social-cognitive theory incorporating self-efficacy factors. Two hundred forty-eight insufficiently active 65- to 74-year-olds were recruited from the Australian federal electoral roll. The intervention comprised walking and strength and flexibility exercises and was conducted in 30 local neighborhoods where the participants resided. Characteristics of individuals lost to attrition (n = 86, 35%) were compared with those of program completers (n = 162, 65%). Logistic-regression analysis showed that those lost to attrition came from areas of lower socioeconomic status, were overweight and less physically active, and had lower walking self-efficacy scores and higher loneliness scores. The results suggest that early assessment of these characteristics should be undertaken to identify individuals at risk of attrition, to improve retention, and to avoid potential bias.     

WAR OF ATTRITION: EVIDENCE FROM A LABORATORY EXPERIMENT ON MARKET EXIT

We report an experiment designed to study whether inefficient firms are systematically driven from overcrowded markets. Our data set includes a series of 3,800 wars of attrition of a type modeled by Fudenberg and Tirole in 1986. We find that exit tends to be efficient and exit times conform surprisingly well to point predictions of the model. Moreover, subjects respond similarly to implementations framed in terms of losses as they do to those framed in terms of gains. (JEL D21, L11, C92)     

Feasibility of bidirectional text messages in evaluating a text-based nutrition education program for low-income parents: Results from the Text2BHealthy program

Text messages are increasingly used in the delivery of health education programs. One appealing aspect of this approach is the possibility of remotely collecting participant data to use in program tailoring or evaluation. The purpose of the present study is to test the feasibility of using text messages to collect participant data. Using data from 33 texted evaluation questions sent through the Text2BHealthy nutrition education program for low-income parents (n = 108−1521) response rates under different incentive and prompting strategies were examined. Response rates are generally low across a pilot year and three program years, ranging from 10–55%. While incentives seemed to be ineffective at improving response rates, results indicate that prompting participants to respond may increase response rates. Individuals who respond to an initial question are highly likely to respond to a follow-up question (88–99%) and to report positive behaviors (68–100%). Responses received through text may be unrepresentative and positively biased. Text messages may be a supplemental data collection strategy in nutrition education programs, but low response rates and response bias undermine data quality.     

Panel accretion and external validity in adolescent substance use research

This study investigates the relationship of panel accretion to panel attrition and examines its impact on threats to external validity in adolescent substance use research. Panel accretion involves the addition of new participants to a panel design after initial baseline data has been obtained. Accretion occurs in longitudinal studies in which data is routinely gathered on all participants, as is often the case in prevention or epidemiological research on adolescent substance use. Accretion, attrition, and panel findings for three, 2-year panel samples in grades 7 through 9 are examined. The results indicate that accretion and attrition samples have an isomorphic relationship to one another on a range of dependent measures when drawn from the same population. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for adolescent substance use research, the examination of validity threats due to panel bias, and understanding the ecological validity of research findings.     

Declining social mobility? Evidence from five linked censuses in England and Wales 1971–2011

In this paper we add to the existing evidence base on recent trends in inter‐generational social mobility in England and Wales. We analyse data from the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study (ONS‐LS), which links individual records from the five decennial censuses between 1971 and 2011. The ONS‐LS is an excellent data resource for the study of social mobility because it has a very large sample size, excellent population coverage and low rates of nonresponse and attrition across waves. Additionally, the structure of the study means that we can observe the occupations of LS‐members' parents when they were children and follow their own progress in the labour market at regular intervals into middle age. Counter to widespread prevailing beliefs, our results show evidence of a small but significant increase in social fluidity between 1950s and the 1980s for both men and women.     

Predictors of Attrition from an Expressive Writing Intervention for Sexual Abuse Survivors

This study examined predictors of attrition from a clinical trial examining the effects of an expressive writing intervention for sexual problems among female survivors of child sexual abuse. Participants were 124 women all reporting sexual difficulties, who were randomized to a trauma-focused condition (n?=?45), an experimental sexual schema-focused condition (n?=?37), or a control condition (n?=?42). Thirty-five women (28%) dropped out before completing posttreatment assessments. Younger age, less education, and increased use of positive coping strategies were each independently associated with dropout. Results have implications for both researchers and clinicians working with this population, and it is hoped that these data can help bolster retention of those who are more likely to discontinue treatment.     

Methodologic challenges of e-health research

In this article, research-based strategies used in a web-based study to assess the impact of participation in cancer-related mailing lists on cancer survivors and caregivers are highlighted. The paper presents alternative methods of measuring response rates in Internet surveys. Response rate estimation, based on American Association for Public Opinion Research guidelines, ranged between 15% and 24.9% for the study. Several strategies were implemented to increase survey participation and reduce item nonresponse. Few participants opted for a telephone survey as an alternative to a web-administered design (mixed-mode administration). Using time-stamp data to diagnose places in the questionnaire where respondents prematurely exited or broke off survey participation, we were able to decrease premature break offs. A lottery was also implemented to increase response rates. The experience of obtaining institutional review board approval for the lottery is also described. Preliminary data indicate slight increases in response rates subsequent to implementing the lottery.     

Analyzing attrition in a community-based literacy program

Attrition presents a challenge for research, especially when it affects groups differentially. The present study used the strategy proposed by Cook and Campbell (1979) to investigate attrition in a community-based literacy program. The relationship of attrition to person-centered and program-centered variables, and the interactions between person-centered and program-centered variables were examined in 287 Head Start families. Thus, data from this program were used to illustrate methods for examining attrition and determine its effects. This examination revealed differences among the intervention groups in the pattern of attrition. There were interactions between intervention program-centered characteristics and person-centered characteristics of the participants that could affect the validity of the study and limit the generalizability of the results. Suggestions for dealing with these problems and preventing attrition are discussed.     

The use of army human service agencies to counter attrition among first term soldiers

Based on a sequence of in-depth interviews and quantitative surveys conducted with members of the chain of command, first term soldiers and agency administrators from selected Army installations, the present study examines the knowledge, use, and assessment of human service agencies on post for dealing with selected problems of first term soldiers. Linkages also are examined between the use of post agencies by company commanders for referral and unit attrition rates. The results of the investigation suggest that post agencies have limited potential at this time for solving the problems and lowering the rate of early discharge among first term soldiers.     

Predictors of Treatment Outcome Among Asian Pathological Gamblers (PGs): Clinical,Behavioural, Demographic,and Treatment Process Factors

Research on predictors of treatment outcome among pathological gamblers (PGs) is inconclusive and dominated by studies from Western countries. Using a prospective longitudinal design, the current study examined demographic, clinical, behavioural and treatment programme predictors of gambling frequency at 3, 6 and 12-months, among PGs treated at an addiction clinic in Singapore. Measures included the Hospital anxiety and depression scale, gambling symptom assessment scale (GSAS), personal well-being index (PWI), treatment perception questionnaire and gambling readiness to change scale. Treatment response in relation to changes in symptom severity, personal wellbeing and abstinence were also assessed. Abstinence rates were 38.6, 46.0 and 44.4 % at 3, 6 and 12-months respectively. Significant reductions in gambling frequency, GSAS, and improvement in PWI were reported between baseline and subsequent outcome assessments, with the greatest change occurring in the initial three months. No demographic, clinical, behavioural or treatment programme variable consistently predicted outcome at all three assessments, though treatment satisfaction was the most frequent significant predictor. However, being unemployed, having larger than average debts, poor treatment satisfaction and attending fewer sessions at the later stages of treatment were associated with significantly poorer outcomes, up to 1-year after initiating treatment. These findings show promise for the effectiveness of a CBT-based treatment approach for the treatment of predominantly Chinese PGs. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. Taken together, the findings suggest early treatment satisfaction is paramount in improving short-term outcomes, with baseline gambling behaviour and treatment intensity playing a more significant role in the longer term.     

Staying safe while consuming alcohol: a qualitative study of the protective strategies and informational needs of college freshmen

OBJECTIVE: In this qualitative study, the authors examined how students attempt to minimize harm to themselves and others when drinking. PARTICIPANTS: The authors recruited freshmen at a large, mid-Atlantic US public university during the fall semester of 2005 to participate in 8 focus groups. METHODS: The moderator's guide was developed through an iterative process that included input from experts and pilot testing. The researchers audiotaped focus group conversations, transcribed them, and subjected them to an interrater reliability check. Analysis was based on the framework of Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model and a phenomenological approach. RESULTS: College students have a repertoire of coping strategies they use in an attempt to safeguard themselves and their friends from harm when drinking. Strategies encompass planning a safe context for drinking, using safety measures to minimize harm when drinking, and taking care of someone who has consumed too much alcohol. CONCLUSIONS: A harm-reduction focus that acknowledges and builds on existing protective strategies may be a promising avenue for alcohol interventions.     

Alternative methods for handling attrition: an illustration using data from the Fast Track evaluation

Using data from the evaluation of the Fast Track intervention, this article illustrates three methods for handling attrition. Multiple imputation and ignorable maximum likelihood estimation produce estimates that are similar to those based on listwise-deleted data. A panel selection model that allows for selective dropout reveals that highly aggressive boys accumulate in the treatment group over time and produces a larger estimate of treatment effect. In contrast, this model produces a smaller treatment effect for girls. The article's conclusion discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the alternative approaches and outlines ways in which researchers might improve their handling of attrition.