142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Identifying Misclassification in Youth Self-Reported Smoking Status: Testing Different Consent Processes

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Noella Dietz, PhD , Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, miami, FL
David Lee, PhD , Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, miami, FL
Kristopher Arheart, EdD , public health sciences, university of miami miller school of medicine, miami, FL
David F. Sly, PhD , College of Social Sciences, Florida State University, Jasper, GA
Laura A. McClure, MSPH , Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL
Introduction:  In Florida, since 1998, identical survey items have been used to measure youth smoking status for state and tobacco control program evaluation surveys.  The two surveys should parallel, if not match, to track tobacco use.  Tobacco items collected in the two surveys closely paralleled one another until recently.  Since 2008, data show dramatically divergent youth smoking estimates (e.g., relative differences as high as 50%) which cannot be explained by differences in survey and sampling design. As a first step in detecting misclassification, we examined the feasibility of asking youth to self-report their smoking and collect a biological sample, with the expectation that youth will misreport their smoking status. 

Methods:  Using a cross-sectional population level survey, youth were randomly assigned to one of three groups to test mode effects of collecting biological data with self-reported survey data (n=303): no biological request, biological request with indirect explanation of use, and biological request with direct explanation of use.

Results:  Results showed two groups (no biological request and biological request with indirect explanation) had similar response rates and self-reported smoking status, while the third group (biological request with direct explanation) had a substantially lower response rate and self-reported smoking status. 

Conclusions:  The data show youth who are given an indirect explanation of how biological data are to be used are as likely to self-report their smoking status as youth who were not asked to provide a biological sample.  Identifying misclassification is vital to understand why youth no longer report their smoking status via telephone interviews.

Learning Areas:

Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Epidemiology

Learning Objectives:
Discuss misreporting of tobacco use behaviors among youth. Demonstrate how biological requests can be made and still have misreporting of tobacco use. Test different consent processes to identify misclassification of self reported tobacco use.

Keyword(s): Data Collection and Surveillance, Tobacco Use

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principal investigator or co-investigator on a number of funded grants or contracts focusing on anti-tobacco campaign evaluation and tobacco control. My scientific interests have been in program evaluation and anti-tobacco interventions to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with tobacco use.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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