Comparison of different parental survey methods in a school-based stroke literacy study

Background: High parental participation rates in school-based studies are needed to avoid sampling bias. Stroke literacy, defined as knowledge of cardinal stroke symptoms, the appropriate response to them, and stroke prevention measures, is a modifiable barrier to time-sensitive emergency stroke treatment. New York City, Parent Coordinators (PC) form part of the school principal's administrative staff and have a wide range of parental engaging duties. We examined different parental stroke knowledge survey methods in a school-based stroke literacy program that included the use of PCs. Method: Hip Hop Stroke (HHS) is a school-based stroke literacy program that primarily teaches children aged 9-11 years, and utilizes them as conduits of stroke information into the home. We examined three different methods of assessing parental stroke literacy in two Central Harlem schools: take-home surveys by children with instructions, telephone surveys by a trained PC, and in-person surveys by a trained PC. Results: Overall, seventy-four parents were enrolled. 72% of parents were women, 64% were non-Hispanic black, and 21% were Hispanic. 75% were over the age of 36 and 8% were over 55 years of age. Child take-home survey rate outperformed PC telephone survey rate and PC in-person survey rate (74.6% versus 27% and 50% respectively, p < 0.001). In-person surveys performed significantly better than telephone surveys (p< 0.01). Conclusion: The use of student child take-home surveys to assess adult stroke literacy may be an effective method for increasing participation rates. Larger studies are needed to confirm these findings.