Percentages of foreign nationals were high in the fully participating group (45%; n = 19) and the non-contactable group (53%; n = 26) and significantly lower in the refusal (18%; n = 9) and telephone interview group (26%; n = 10).
However, the child's nationality had a significant impact: Percentages of foreign nationals were higher in the fully participating group (45%; n = 19) and the non-contactable group (53%; n = 26) and significantly lower in the refusal (26%; n = 10) and the telephone interview group (18%; n = 9).
The significantly higher percentage of foreign nationals in the non-contactable group is not surprising given the fact that this group includes cases where no adequate communication in German, French, or English was possible as well as cases where the families had returned to their home country.
There was a possible hint of economic difficulties in the non-contactable group in that many mobile phones answered with the recorded phrase "the number you have dialed is currently not in service," which is often due to unpaid mobile phone bills.
In retrospective studies, however, participants might not be practically contactable and contacting them might cause distress [ 1].
One patient in the UPT group dropped out (treatment attendance stopped and not contactable by phone or email).
If the adolescent is not contactable, facilitators continue to attempt to contact the adolescent in line with the developed protocol.
Be concerned if you try to contact them and they're not contactable.
Within the ARMHS sample, among those who were contactable and met study inclusion criteria, participation rates varied by age group (under 55 years: 25.4%; 55-70 years: 32.4%; over 70 years: 20.1%).
Ten patients who had expressed an interest did not take part: three were unable to get to the venue for the focus group, three changed their minds when contacted or after agreeing to attend a focus group, two could not attend on the dates and/or at the times of the focus groups, one was un-contactable by telephone and one could not attend for personal reasons.
The results of the retrospective cohort study are shown in table 4. Of the 360 study subjects enrolled, 87.2% had primary care givers who were contactable; there was no significant difference in the response rate across the three vaccine formulation groups.
