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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2015 May-Jun;30(3):E33-40.
doi: 10.1097/HTR.0000000000000059.

Factors influencing attrition in a multisite, randomized, clinical trial following traumatic brain injury in adolescence

Robert Z Blaha  1 , Anne B Arnett, Michael W Kirkwood, H Gerry Taylor, Terry Stancin, Tanya M Brown, Shari L Wade
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Factors influencing attrition in a multisite, randomized, clinical trial following traumatic brain injury in adolescence

Robert Z Blaha et al. J Head Trauma Rehabil. 2015 May-Jun.

Abstract

Background: Attrition in longitudinal research negatively affects statistical power, disrupts statistical stability, and can produce unwanted bias.

Objective: To investigate factors associated with shorter length of study participation and lower rates of study completion (ie, attrition) in a large, multisite, longitudinal, randomized, clinical trial examining the efficacy of a Web-based family problem-solving treatment following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in adolescence.

Setting: Five major trauma centers in the central and western regions of the United States.

Participants: Children (N = 132) aged 12 to 17 years hospitalized for complicated mild to severe TBI within the previous 6 months.

Results: Completers had a higher primary caregiver education and higher family income than noncompleters, whereas ethnicity, latency to baseline assessment, and intervention group were not significantly associated with study completion.

Conclusion: This is the first study that has specifically examined factors of attrition in a pediatric TBI population. The results suggest that research on pediatric TBI populations may be biased toward higher-income families and highlights the importance of designing studies with increased awareness of the impact of participant demographic factors.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CONSORT flowchart. CAPS indicates Counselor-Assisted Problem Solving; IRC, Internet Resource Comparison.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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