title: Assessment of an interactive voice response system for identifying falls in a statewide sample of older adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Interactive voice response (IVR) systems offer great advantages for data collection in large, geographically dispersed samples involving frequent contact. We assessed the quality of IVR data collected from older respondents participating in a statewide falls prevention program evaluation in Pennsylvania in 2010-12.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants (n=1834) were followed up monthly for up to 10 months to compare respondents who completed all, some, or no assessments in the IVR system. Validity was assessed by examining IVR-reported falls incidence relative to baseline in-person self-report and performance assessment of balance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While a third of the sample switched from IVR to in-person calls over follow-up, IVR interviews were successfully used to complete 68.1% of completed monthly assessments (10,511/15,430). Switching to in-person interviews was not associated with measures of participant function or cognition. Both self-reported (p<.0001) and performance assessment of balance (p=.05) at baseline were related to falls incidence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IVR is a productive modality for falls research among older adults. Future research should establish what level of initial personal research contact is optimal for boosting IVR completion rates and what research domains are most appropriate for this kind of contact.
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 130 Desoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA. Electronic address: smalbert@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Steven M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.affiliation: Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 130 Desoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA. Electronic address: jenking@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: University Center for Social and Urban Research, 3343 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. Electronic address: rkeene@pitt.edu.
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Keene
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010414:Pennsylvania / Q000453:epidemiology; D004856:Postural Balance; D012307:Risk Factors; D049250:Speech Recognition Software / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013689:Telephone
keywords: Aging; Falls; Interactive voice response; Survey quality