title: Optimizing patient-reported outcome and risk factor reporting from cancer survivors: a randomized trial of four different survey methods among colorectal cancer survivors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The goal of this study was to determine response rates and associated costs of different survey methods among colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assembled a cohort of 16,212 individuals diagnosed with CRC (2010-2014) from six health plans, and randomly selected 4000 survivors to test survey response rates across four mixed-mode survey administration protocols (in English and Spanish): arm 1, mailed survey with phone follow-up; arm 2, interactive voice response (IVR) followed by mail; arm 3; email linked to web-based survey with mail follow-up; and arm 4, email linked to web-based survey followed by IVR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our overall response rate was 50.2%. Arm 1 had the highest response rate (59.9%), followed by arm 3 (51.9%), arm 2 (51.2%), and arm 4 (37.9%). Response rates were higher among non-Hispanic whites in all arms than other racial/ethnic groups (p < 0.001), among English (51.5%) than Spanish speakers (36.4%) (p < 0.001), and among higher (53.7%) than lower (41.4%) socioeconomic status (p < 0.001). Survey arms were roughly comparable in cost, with a difference of only 8% of total costs between the most (arm 2) and least (arm 3) expensive arms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mailed surveys followed by phone calls achieved the highest response rate; email invitations and online surveys cost less per response. Electronic methods, even among those with email availability, may miss important populations including Hispanics, non-English speakers, and those of lower socioeconomic status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrate effective methods for capturing patient-reported outcomes, inform the relative benefits/disadvantages of the different methods, and identify future research directions.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, 10065 E. Harvard Avenue, Suite 300, Denver, CO, 80231, USA. Heather.S.Feigelson@kp.org.
authors.forename: Heather Spencer
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Feigelson
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, OR, USA.
authors.forename: Carmit K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: McMullen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, 10065 E. Harvard Avenue, Suite 300, Denver, CO, 80231, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Madrid
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, 10065 E. Harvard Avenue, Suite 300, Denver, CO, 80231, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Sterrett
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, 10065 E. Harvard Avenue, Suite 300, Denver, CO, 80231, USA.
authors.forename: J David
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Powers
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, 10065 E. Harvard Avenue, Suite 300, Denver, CO, 80231, USA.
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Blum-Barnett
authors.affiliation: HealthPartners Institute, Bloomington, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Pamala A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Pawloski
authors.affiliation: HealthPartners Institute, Bloomington, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Jeanette Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Ziegenfuss
authors.affiliation: Department of Research & Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Virginia P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.affiliation: Group Health Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Arterburn
authors.affiliation: Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Douglas A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Corley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000071066:Patient Reported Outcome Measures; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors
keywords: Colorectal cancer; Mixed-mode survey; Patient-reported outcomes; Survivors