title: Randomised comparison of three methods of administering a screening questionnaire to elderly people: findings from the MRC trial of the assessment and management of older people in the community.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare three different methods of administering a brief screening questionnaire to elderly people: post, interview by lay interviewer, and interview by nurse.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomised comparison of methods within a cluster randomised trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  106 general practices in the United Kingdom.
  
  
  METHODS
  32 990 people aged 75 years or over registered with participating practices.
  
  
  METHODS
  Response rates, proportion of missing values, prevalence of self reported morbidity, and sensitivity and specificity of self reported measures by method of administration of questionnaire for four domains.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was higher for the postal questionnaire than for the two interview methods combined (83.5% v 74.9%; difference 8.5%, 95% confidence interval 4.4% to 12.7%, P<0.001). The proportion of missing or invalid responses was low overall (mean 2.1%) but was greater for the postal method than for the interview methods combined (4.1% v 0.9%; difference 3.2%, 2.7% to 3.6%, P<0.001). With a few exceptions, levels of self reported morbidity were lower in the interview groups, particularly for interviews by nurses. The sensitivity of the self reported measures was lower in the nurse interview group for three out of four domains, but 95% confidence intervals for the estimates overlapped. Specificity of the self reported measures varied little by method of administration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Postal questionnaires were associated with higher response rates but also higher proportions of missing values than were interview methods. Lower estimates of self reported morbidity were obtained with the nurse interview method and to a lesser extent with the lay interview method than with postal questionnaires.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ageing and Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Smeeth
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Fletcher
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stirling
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Breeze
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Bulpitt
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jones
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003152:Community Health Nursing; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D011177:Postal Service; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires