Analysis of combined probability and nonprobability samples: A simulation evaluation and application to a teen smoking behavior survey.

In scientific studies with low-prevalence outcomes, probability sampling may be supplemented by nonprobability sampling to boost the sample size of desired subpopulation while remaining representative to the entire study population. To utilize both probability and nonprobability samples appropriately, several methods have been proposed in the literature to generate pseudo-weights, including ad-hoc weights, inclusion probability adjusted weights, and propensity score adjusted weights. We empirically compare various weighting strategies via an extensive simulation study, where probability and nonprobability samples are combined.

'Know-Can' gap: gap between knowledge and skills related to childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia among frontline workers in rural Uttar Pradesh, India.

Objectives: In India, frontline workers (FLWs) - public accredited social health activists (ASHAs) and private rural medical providers (RMPs) - are important for early detection and treatment of childhood diarrhoea and pneumonia. This cross-sectional study aims to measure knowledge and skills, and the gap between the two ('know-can' gap), regarding assessment of childhood diarrhoea with dehydration and pneumonia among FLWs, and to explore factors associated with them.

Methods: We surveyed 473 ASHAs and 447 RMPs in six districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS) 2016: Study Design and Methods.

Background: Diet and feeding patterns during the infant, toddler, and preschool years affect nutrient adequacy or excess during critical developmental periods. Understanding food consumption, feeding practices, and nutrient adequacy or excess during these periods is essential to establishing appropriate recommendations aimed at instilling healthy eating behaviors in children.

Objective: The objective of the 2016 Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS 2016) was to update our knowledge on the diets and feeding patterns of young children and to provide new data in related areas such as feeding behaviors, sleep, physical activity, and screen use.

The relationship between health worker stigma and uptake of HIV counseling and testing and utilization of non-HIV health services: the experience of male and female sex workers in Kenya.

The barrier HIV-stigma presents to the HIV treatment cascade is increasingly documented; however less is known about female and male sex worker engagement in and the influence of sex-work stigma on the HIV care continuum. While stigma occurs in all spheres of life, stigma within health services may be particularly detrimental to health seeking behaviors. Therefore, we present levels of sex-work stigma from healthcare workers (HCW) among male and female sex workers in Kenya, and explore the relationship between sex-work stigma and HIV counseling and testing.

Nonmedical use of prescription drugs in the European Union.

Background: Nonmedical prescription drug use (NMPDU) refers to the self-treatment of a medical condition using medication without a prescriber's authorization as well as use to achieve euphoric states. This article reports data from a cross-national investigation of NMPDU in five European Countries, with the aim to understand the prevalence and characteristics of those engaging in NMPDU across the EU.

Methods: A parallel series of self-administered, cross-sectional, general population surveys were conducted in 2014.

Measuring treatment coverage for neglected tropical disease control programs: analysis of a survey design.

Monitoring of treatment coverage following mass drug administration is essential to ensure program success. Coverage results reported by drug administrators are often validated by using population surveys. This study evaluates the design of a multistage cluster sample survey conducted in 2007-2008 and implemented at the district level to assess drug coverage in the 4 African countries of Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger, and Uganda.

Differences between RDD telephone and ABS mail survey design: coverage, unit nonresponse, and measurement error.

Using list-assisted random digit dialing (RDD) with telephone data collection and address-based sampling (ABS) with mail questionnaires are two survey designs that yield probability based inference, yet they are so different that they can yield entirely different results. The 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the effect of these different designs on a variety of survey estimates and, even more importantly, the effect on individual sources of survey error. Understanding the difference in error structure between the two designs is important to survey practitioners in order to select the optimum design, and to data users who can anticipate which results may be affected and how.

Employee assistance program services for intimate partner violence and client satisfaction with these services.

Objective: To describe intimate partner violence (IPV) services available through employee assistance programs (EAPs) and determine women's satisfaction with these services.

Methods: A mixed-methods study consisting of semistructured telephone interviews with 28 EAPs about IPV-related services and a national web-based survey of 1765 women regarding their interactions with EAPs when seeking IPV-related assistance. Data were collected in the fall of 2008.