Advanced practice nurses and program evaluation: Can solicitation of an e-mail address lead to longitudinal selection bias?

• Published in: Contemporary nurse : a journal for the Australian nursing profession Vol. 41; no. 2; pp. 169 - 176
• Main Authors: Dickerson, Justin B, Lee Smith, Matthew, Mckinley, Ashley, Ory, Marcia G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Routledge 01.06.2012; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Advanced practice nurses; advanced practice nursing; Bias; Chronic Disease; Chronic illnesses; Data collection; Electronic Mail; Health surveys; Humans; Internet; longitudinal research; Longitudinal Studies; Mail surveys; Nurse Practitioners; Nursing; Personal information; Practice; Privacy; Program Evaluation; Response rates; Selection Bias; Self Care; Self-directed work teams; United States > US
• ISSN: 1037-6178; 1839-3535
• DOI: 10.5172/conu.2012.41.2.169

Objectives: 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). Conclusion: Soliciting an e-mail address could pose a risk of selection bias when developing a longitudinal sample for further analysis.