Advanced practice nurses and program evaluation: can solicitation of an e-mail address lead to longitudinal selection bias?
OBJECTIVE
To identify if survey respondents providing an e-mail address for program evaluation represent a risk of longitudinal selection bias.


METHODS
A survey was administered to advanced practice nurses after a chronic disease self-management presentation. Chi-square statistics and logistic regression were used to identify variables associated with successful solicitation of an e-mail address.


RESULTS
Relative to those 'not at all likely' to suggest someone in their practice train to become a certified chronic disease self-management facilitator, those stating they were 'very likely' or 'quite likely' to take this action were 10.20 and 13.60 times more likely, respectively, to provide an e-mail address. These differences were statistically significant (OR = 10.20, CI = 2.91-35.77, p < 0.001 and OR = 13.60, CI = 2.14-86.40, p = 0.006, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
Soliciting an e-mail address could pose a risk of selection bias when developing a longitudinal sample for further analysis.
Department of Health Policy & Management, School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station, TX, USA.
Justin B
JB
Dickerson
Matthew Lee
ML
Smith
Ashley
A
McKinley
Marcia G
MG
Ory
D002908:Chronic Disease; D034742:Electronic Mail; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009722:Nurse Practitioners; D015397:Program Evaluation; D015983:Selection Bias; D012648:Self Care