title: Online child and adolescent mental health surveys can be good enough.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the value and practicability of online child mental health surveys.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study 1 followed up an existing low-risk sample from the general population. Study 2 recruited a new high-risk sample via a parents' organization for children with a neurological condition. Both studies invited parents of 2-17 year olds to complete the online development and well-being assessment. Pre-existing data on the Study 1 sample made it possible to examine selective participation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Response rates were low (20 % for Study 1, 8 % for Study 2). Participation in Study 1 was lower for parents who rented rather than owned their home, for non-traditional families, for parents living in more deprived areas, and for Asian families. Nevertheless, studies 1 and 2 generally replicated the findings of previous interviewer-based surveys with higher response rates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Online surveys can be quick and easy to carry out and can potentially generate good enough data for service planning and other purposes despite low response rates, selective participation and missing data. Web-based assessments are a useful addition to the researcher's toolbox, but they do not render the other tools redundant.
authors: King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, London, SE5 8AF, UK. robert.goodman@kcl.ac.uk
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Goodman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008131:London / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008603:Mental Health; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
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