The respondents on behalf of public health associations replied individually: in general, national associations do not have formal structures monitoring their country's research activities, although this is has now been proposed by EUPHA for future activity [ 35].
One respondent answered on behalf of a health care system (which included 13 hospitals in total), but over half (58.5%) indicated that their hospital was part of a larger health care system.
Of the 948 individuals interviewed, 506 were primary respondents (spoke on behalf of the household) and 442 were secondary respondents.
Because women tend to underreport their personal history, and because the decision to have an abortion remains stigmatized, the study employed a third-party reporting methodology that asks respondents to answer on behalf of their best friend, as well as themselves.
To maximise participation of people who may have low literacy, an oral consent option was also offered where a witness, who was not involved in the respondent's direct care, signed on behalf of the respondent.
Proxy respondents who knew the respondent well enough were identified and interviewed on behalf of the respondents with impaired ability to respond.
The primary objective was to describe HRQL during four different FN management strategies from parent proxy respondents who anticipated HRQL on behalf of their child and from children who responded on their own behalf.
The respondents had to participate on behalf of all integrated care providers involved and were allowed to contact colleagues in their integrated care setting to help them answer the questions.
The informed consent form was either read aloud or thoroughly explained to the respondents, and once the respondent had provided oral consent, a member of the teams signed the consent form on behalf of the respondent.
Essentially, these proxy respondents bring a cognitive role set with them when they complete survey items on behalf of the respondent.
