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Background: Health care researchers working in the Arabian Gulf need information on how to optimize recruitment and retention of study participants in extremely culturally diverse settings. Implemented in Doha, Qatar in 2012 with 4 language groups, namely Arabic, English, Hindi, and Urdu, this research documents persons' responses to recruitment, consent, follow-up, and reminder procedures during psychometric testing of the Multicultural Assessment Instrument (MAI), a novel self- or interviewer-administered survey.Methods: Bilingual research assistants recruited adults in outpatient clinics by approaching persons in particular who appeared to be from a target language group. Participants completed the MAI, a second acculturation instrument used for content-validity assessment, and a demographics questionnaire. Participants were asked to take the MAI again in 2-3 weeks, in person or by post, to assess test-retest reliability. Recruitment data were analyzed by using nonparametric statistics.Results: Of 1503 persons approached during recruitment, 400 enrolled (27%)-100 per language group. The enrollment rates in the language groups were: Arabic-32%; English-33%; Hindi-18%; Urdu-30%. The groups varied somewhat in their preferences regarding consent procedure, follow-up survey administration, contact mode for follow-up reminders, and disclosure of personal mailing address (for postal follow-up). Over all, telephone was the preferred medium for follow-up reminders. Of 64 persons who accepted a research assistant's invitation for in-person follow-up, 40 participants completed the interview (follow-up rate, 63%); among 126 persons in the postal group with a deliverable address, 29 participants mailed back a completed follow-up survey (response rate, 23%).Conclusions: Researchers in the Arabian Gulf face challenges to successfully identify, enroll, and retain eligible study participants. Although bilingual assistants-often from the persons' own culture-recruited face-to-face, and our questionnaire contained no health care-related content, many persons were reluctant to participate. This occurrence was observed especially at follow-up, particularly among participants who had agreed to follow-up by post. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As part of a sub-study in the ongoing Norwegian RCT 'Fit for Delivery', a new questionnaire, using a combination of food frequency, scale, and categorical questions to gather data on the diets and eating patterns of one year olds, was developed and tested for reliability by test-retest. Results: Of 102 parents recruited to the study, 94 completed both test and retest. Correlation coefficients (Spearman's r, and/or Cohen's kappa, where applicable) were high for all categories of question, with a mean value of 0.72 for Spearman's r for food frequency variables, and a mean value of 0.75 for Cohen's kappa for non-numeric variables such as breast feeding status, showing very high test-retest reliability. Conclusions: This newly developed diet and eating habit questionnaire had strong test-retest reliability in a test population similar to the study population, for which it was developed. This indicates that the questionnaire is reliable in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A battery of clinical assessments was used in the Lililwan* Project, Australia's first populationbased Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) prevalence study, conducted in the remote Fitzroy Valley, Western Australia. One objective was to develop and assess test-retest reliability of an acceptable questionnaire for collecting health information in remote Aboriginal communities feasible for use in the Lililwan Project. Methods: A questionnaire was developed by paediatricians to assist in diagnosis of FASD. Content was based on a literature review of FASD diagnostic criteria, existing questionnaires and risk factors for FASD and birth defects. Aboriginal community members, including qualified Aboriginal language interpreters, adapted the questionnaire to ensure language and cultural components were appropriate for use in the Fitzroy Valley. Locally developed pictorial aids were used for gathering accurate information on alcohol use. Aboriginal 'community navigators' assisted researchers to translate the questions into Kimberley Kriol or local Aboriginal languages depending on participant preference. A subset of 14 questions was assessed for test-retest reliability in 30 parents/carers of children in the Lililwan Project cohort, who were interviewed by one rater using the entire questionnaire, then by a second rater who repeated 14 critical questions at least 6 hours later. Results: The full questionnaire contained 112 items and took 50 minutes to administer. For a subset of 14 items from the full questionnaire percent exact agreement between raters ranged from 59-100%, and was below 70% for only 1 question. Test-retest reliability was excellent (Kappa 0.81-1.00) for 5 items, substantial (Kappa 0.61-0.80) for 5 items, and moderate, fair or slight (Kappa =0.60) for the remaining 4 items tested. Test-retest reliability for questions relating to alcohol use in pregnancy was excellent. When questions had moderate, fair or slight agreement, information was obtained from alternate sources e.g. medical records. Qualitative feedback from parents/carers confirmed acceptability of the questionnaire. Conclusions: This questionnaire had acceptable test-retest reliability and could be used to collect demographic, socio-cultural and biomedical information relevant to the diagnosis of FASD in Aboriginal communities throughout Australia and elsewhere. Community input is crucial when developing and administering questionnaires for use in cross-cultural contexts. *Lililwan is a Kimberley Kriol word meaning 'all the little ones'. Kimberley Kriol is the main language spoken by Aboriginal people in the Fitzroy Valley. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]