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Updated: May 1, 2026
Assessment and Evaluation of the High Risk Neonate: The NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale
Published on: August 25, 2014
Telephone interviews and online questionnaires can be used to improve neurodevelopmental follow-up rates
Samantha Johnson1, Sarah E Seaton, Bradley N Manktelow
1Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, 22-28 Princess Road West, Leicester LE1 6TP, UK. sjj19@le.ac.uk.
Insights
Improving neurodevelopmental follow-up response rates is crucial. Offering telephone and online questionnaires, alongside postal methods, enhances participant representation and data completeness for pediatric research.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric research
- Neurodevelopmental outcomes
- Clinical trial methodology
Background:
- Maximizing response rates in pediatric neurodevelopmental follow-up studies is a significant challenge.
- Traditional postal questionnaires may lead to non-response bias and incomplete data.
- Alternative data collection methods are needed to improve study efficiency and representativeness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effectiveness of telephone interviews and online questionnaires in improving response rates for 2-year neurodevelopmental follow-up.
- To assess the impact of different questionnaire modes on non-response bias, data completeness, and outcome validity.
- To compare participant characteristics and adverse outcome prevalence between postal and telephone/online response groups.
Main Methods:
- A prospective cohort study involving infants born at ≥32 weeks gestation.
- Neurodevelopmental outcomes assessed at 2 years using parent questionnaires delivered via post, telephone, or online.
- Statistical analysis using Relative Risks (RR) and generalized linear models to compare response modes and identify factors associated with non-response.
Main Results:
- Offering telephone/online questionnaires increased the overall study response rate from 55% to 60%.
- Telephone/online responders were more likely to be non-white, non-English speaking, or from multiple births compared to postal responders.
- No significant differences were found in the prevalence of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes or data completeness between response modes.
Conclusions:
- Telephone interviews and online questionnaires can enhance response rates and improve sample representation in neurodevelopmental follow-up studies.
- These methods maintain data completeness and produce unbiased outcomes when sufficient technology and resources are available.
- Implementing diverse data collection strategies is vital for robust pediatric research.
Background:
Maximising response rates to neurodevelopmental follow-up is a key challenge for paediatric researchers. We have investigated the use of telephone interviews and online questionnaires to improve response rates, reduce non-response bias, maintain data completeness and produce unbiased outcomes compared with postal questionnaires when assessing neurodevelopmental outcomes at 2 years.
Methods:
A prospective cohort study of babies born ≥32 weeks gestation. Neurodevelopmental outcomes were assessed at 2 years of age using a parent questionnaire completed via post, telephone or online. Relative Risks with 95% confidence intervals (RR; 95% CI) were calculated to identify participant characteristics associated with non-response and questionnaire response mode (postal vs. telephone/online). The proportion of missing data and prevalence of adverse outcomes was compared between response modes using generalized linear models.
Results:
Offering telephone/online questionnaires increased the study response rate from 55% to 60%. Telephone/online responders were more likely to be non-white (RR 1.6; [95% CI 1.1, 2.4]), non-English speaking (1.6; [1.0, 2.6]) or have a multiple birth (1.6; [1.1, 2.3]) than postal responders. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes between those who responded via post vs. telephone/online (1.1; [0.9, 1.4]). Where parents attempted all questionnaire sections, there were no significant differences in the proportion of missing data between response modes.
Conclusions:
Where there is sufficient technology and resources, offering telephone interviews and online questionnaires can enhance response rates and improve sample representation to neurodevelopmental follow-up, whilst maintaining data completeness and unbiased outcomes.
