Which factors play a role in the decision of mothers to participate in child follow-up examinations after participation in an RCT?: a semi-quantitative study.

Objectives: To determine which factors contribute to the decision of mothers to participate with their child in follow-up (FU) examinations after participation in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) prior to conception.

Design: A cross-sectional survey, including Likert-scale items. Comparisons will be made between respondents who participated in all FU rounds of data collection and those who did not participate in any FU round with their child.

Participants: Women who participated in an RCT investigating the effect of a preconception lifestyle intervention (LIFEstyle study: Netherlands Trial Register: NTR1530) were invited to participate with their child in three FU data collections when the child had a mean age of 4.2 years, 4.6 years and 6.5 years, respectively. FU rounds included a health questionnaire, physical examination and cardiac assessment, successively.

Results: Sixty-seven respondents were included, of whom 7 (10%) did not participate in any FU round and 24 (36%) participated in all FU rounds. Women who participated with their child in all 3 FU data collection rounds felt more involved in the FU research (95.8%) and agreed more often that the FU was introduced well (91.7%) as compared with women that did not participate in any FU data collection round with their child (14.3% and 28.6%, respectively). Participants of FU rounds more often agreed that participation felt like a health check for their child as compared with non-participants. In addition, participants of the physical examination and cardiac assessment more often let their decision to participate depend fully on their child, as compared with non-participants (39.4% vs 17.7% and 52.5% vs 24%, respectively).

Conclusions: To increase participation rates in future FU studies of children after maternal participation in an RCT, we suggest to involve women in the design of the FU study, to emphasise possible perceived benefits of participation and to encourage women to actively involve their child in the decision of participation.