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A qualitative analysis of peer recruitment pressures in respondent driven sampling: Are risks above the ethical limit? THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2015; 26:832-42. [PMID: 26141164 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.05.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2014] [Revised: 04/12/2015] [Accepted: 05/31/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND This paper examines peer recruitment dynamics through respondent driven sampling (RDS) with a sample of injection drug users in Hartford, CT to understand the strategies participants use to recruit peers into a study and the extent to which these strategies may introduce risks above the ethical limit despite safeguards in RDS. METHODS Out of 526 injection drug users who participated in a mixed-method RDS methodology evaluation study, a nested sample of 61 participants completed an in-depth semi-structured interview at a 2-month follow-up to explore their experiences with the recruitment process. RESULTS Findings revealed that participants used a variety of strategies to recruit peers, ranging from one-time interactions to more persistent strategies to encourage participation (e.g., selecting peers that can easily be found and contacted later, following up with peers to remind them of their appointment, accompanying peers to the study site, etc.). Some participants described the more persistent strategies as helpful, while some others experienced these strategies as minor peer pressure, creating a feeling of obligation to participate. Narratives revealed that overall, the probability of experiencing study-related risks remains relatively low for most participants; however, a disconcerting finding was that higher study-related risks (e.g., relationship conflict, loss of relationship, physical fights, violence) were seen for recruits who participated but switched coupons or for recruits who decided not to participate in the study and did not return the coupon to the recruiter. CONCLUSIONS Findings indicate that peer recruitment practices in RDS generally pose minimal risk, but that peer recruitment may occasionally exceed the ethical limit, and that enhanced safeguards for studies using peer recruitment methods are recommended. Suggestions for possible enhancements are described.
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Khan B, Dombrowski K, Curtis R, Wendel T. Estimating Vertex Measures in Social Networks by Sampling Completions of RDS Trees. SOCIAL NETWORKING 2015; 4:1-16. [PMID: 25838988 PMCID: PMC4380167 DOI: 10.4236/sn.2015.41001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
This paper presents a new method for obtaining network properties from
incomplete data sets. Problems associated with missing data represent well-known
stumbling blocks in Social Network Analysis. The method of “estimating
connectivity from spanning tree completions” (ECSTC) is specifically
designed to address situations where only spanning tree(s) of a network are
known, such as those obtained through respondent driven sampling (RDS). Using
repeated random completions derived from degree information, this method forgoes
the usual step of trying to obtain final edge or vertex rosters, and instead
aims to estimate network-centric properties of vertices probabilistically from
the spanning trees themselves. In this paper, we discuss the problem of missing
data and describe the protocols of our completion method, and finally the
results of an experiment where ECSTC was used to estimate graph dependent vertex
properties from spanning trees sampled from a graph whose characteristics were
known ahead of time. The results show that ECSTC methods hold more promise for
obtaining network-centric properties of individuals from a limited set of data
than researchers may have previously assumed. Such an approach represents a
break with past strategies of working with missing data which have mainly sought
means to complete the graph, rather than ECSTC's approach, which is to estimate
network properties themselves without deciding on the final edge set.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bilal Khan
- Department of Math and Computer Science, John Jay College (CUNY), New York, USA
| | - Kirk Dombrowski
- Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, USA
| | - Ric Curtis
- Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, USA
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McCreesh N, Tarsh MN, Seeley J, Katongole J, White RG. Community understanding of Respondent-Driven Sampling in a medical research setting in Uganda: importance for the use of RDS for public health research. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2013; 16:10.1080/13645579.2012.661204. [PMID: 24273435 PMCID: PMC3836405 DOI: 10.1080/13645579.2012.661204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is a widely-used variant of snowball sampling. Respondents are selected not from a sampling frame, but from a social network of existing members of the sample. Incentives are provided for participation and for the recruitment of others. Ethical and methodological criticisms have been raised about RDS. Our purpose was to evaluate whether these criticisms were justified. In this study RDS was used to recruit male household heads in rural Uganda. We investigated community members' understanding and experience of the method, and explored how these may have affected the quality of the RDS survey data. Our findings suggest that because participants recruit participants, the use of RDS in medical research may result in increased difficulties in gaining informed consent, and data collected using RDS may be particularly susceptible to bias due to differences in the understanding of key concepts between researchers and members of the community.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Janet Seeley
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit on AIDS
- School of International Development, University of East Anglia
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Smyrnov P, Broadhead RS, Datsenko O, Matiyash O. Rejuvenating harm reduction projects for injection drug users: Ukraine's nationwide introduction of peer-driven interventions. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2012; 23:141-7. [PMID: 22341720 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2012.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2010] [Revised: 11/25/2011] [Accepted: 01/08/2012] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND A peer-driven intervention (PDI) for injecting drug users (IDUs) was implemented in five Ukrainian city-sites to test-pilot its effectiveness in rejuvenating harm reduction (HR) projects that had become moribund. A PDI relies on drug users in a unique way to educate their peers in the community and recruit them for HIV prevention services. The goal of the PDI was to recruit in six month 500 IDUs who had never been respondents before to each of the five HR projects, especially stimulant- and women-injectors, and IDUs<25 years of age. METHOD We standardized the PDI's structure and operations across all five sites. All five PDIs were started in May 2007 using a carefully selected handful of "seed" IDU-recruiters who were trained to educate three peers who had never received HR services. We also accessed the database of all five projects and analysed the new respondents they recruited six-months prior to the start-up of the PDIs with the new recruits generated by the PDIs. RESULTS Whilst the HR projects in the five city-sites recruited 72 new respondents on average during the six months prior to the PDIs' start-up, the PDIs recruited 455 new respondents on average in each city during their six months of operation, indicating that the PDI was 6.3 times more powerful as a recruitment mechanism. Compared to traditional outreach the PDIs resulted in significant increases in the recruitment of women- and young-injectors, and IDUs who injected a more diverse variety of drugs. CONCLUSION The PDI can have a rejuvenating effect when added to HR projects that had become stagnate over time, resulting in an increase in the number and diversity of new IDU-respondents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pavlo Smyrnov
- The International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine.
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Liu H, Li J, Ha T, Li J. Assessment of Random Recruitment Assumption in Respondent-Driven Sampling in Egocentric Network Data. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012; 1:13-21. [PMID: 23641317 DOI: 10.4236/sn.2012.12002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND One of the key assumptions in respondent-driven sampling (RDS) analysis, called "random selection assumption," is that respondents randomly recruit their peers from their personal networks. The objective of this study was to verify this assumption in the empirical data of egocentric networks. METHODS We conducted an egocentric network study among young drug users in China, in which RDS was used to recruit this hard-to-reach population. If the random recruitment assumption holds, the RDS-estimated population proportions should be similar to the actual population proportions. Following this logic, we first calculated the population proportions of five visible variables (gender, age, education, marital status, and drug use mode) among the total drug-use alters from which the RDS sample was drawn, and then estimated the RDS-adjusted population proportions and their 95% confidence intervals in the RDS sample. Theoretically, if the random recruitment assumption holds, the 95% confidence intervals estimated in the RDS sample should include the population proportions calculated in the total drug-use alters. RESULTS The evaluation of the RDS sample indicated its success in reaching the convergence of RDS compositions and including a broad cross-section of the hidden population. Findings demonstrate that the random selection assumption holds for three group traits, but not for two others. Specifically, egos randomly recruited subjects in different age groups, marital status, or drug use modes from their network alters, but not in gender and education levels. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates the occurrence of non-random recruitment, indicating that the recruitment of subjects in this RDS study was not completely at random. Future studies are needed to assess the extent to which the population proportion estimates can be biased when the violation of the assumption occurs in some group traits in RDS samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongjie Liu
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
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Paquette DM, Bryant J, De Wit J. Use of respondent-driven sampling to enhance understanding of injecting networks: A study of people who inject drugs in Sydney, Australia. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2011; 22:267-73. [DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2011.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2011] [Revised: 03/18/2011] [Accepted: 03/22/2011] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Hathaway AD, Hyshka E, Erickson PG, Asbridge M, Brochu S, Cousineau MM, Duff C, Marsh D. Whither RDS? An investigation of Respondent Driven Sampling as a method of recruiting mainstream marijuana users. Harm Reduct J 2010; 7:15. [PMID: 20618944 PMCID: PMC2909225 DOI: 10.1186/1477-7517-7-15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2010] [Accepted: 07/09/2010] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND An important challenge in conducting social research of specific relevance to harm reduction programs is locating hidden populations of consumers of substances like cannabis who typically report few adverse or unwanted consequences of their use. Much of the deviant, pathologized perception of drug users is historically derived from, and empirically supported, by a research emphasis on gaining ready access to users in drug treatment or in prison populations with higher incidence of problems of dependence and misuse. Because they are less visible, responsible recreational users of illicit drugs have been more difficult to study. METHODS This article investigates Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) as a method of recruiting experienced marijuana users representative of users in the general population. Based on sampling conducted in a multi-city study (Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver), and compared to samples gathered using other research methods, we assess the strengths and weaknesses of RDS recruitment as a means of gaining access to illicit substance users who experience few harmful consequences of their use. Demographic characteristics of the sample in Toronto are compared with those of users in a recent household survey and a pilot study of Toronto where the latter utilized nonrandom self-selection of respondents. RESULTS A modified approach to RDS was necessary to attain the target sample size in all four cities (i.e., 40 'users' from each site). The final sample in Toronto was largely similar, however, to marijuana users in a random household survey that was carried out in the same city. Whereas well-educated, married, whites and females in the survey were all somewhat overrepresented, the two samples, overall, were more alike than different with respect to economic status and employment. Furthermore, comparison with a self-selected sample suggests that (even modified) RDS recruitment is a cost-effective way of gathering respondents who are more representative of users in the general population than nonrandom methods of recruitment ordinarily produce. CONCLUSIONS Research on marijuana use, and other forms of drug use hidden in the general population of adults, is important for informing and extending harm reduction beyond its current emphasis on 'at-risk' populations. Expanding harm reduction in a normalizing context, through innovative research on users often overlooked, further challenges assumptions about reducing harm through prohibition of drug use and urges consideration of alternative policies such as decriminalization and legal regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew D Hathaway
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1
| | - Elaine Hyshka
- Community-University Partnership for the Study of Children, Youth and Families, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
| | - Patricia G Erickson
- Department of Social, Prevention and Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Mark Asbridge
- Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
| | - Serge Brochu
- Centre International de Criminologie Comparee (CICC), University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Marie-Marthe Cousineau
- Centre International de Criminologie Comparee (CICC), University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Cameron Duff
- Social Sciences and Health Research Unit, School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - David Marsh
- Addiction Medicine, Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Fry CL. Ethical implications of peer-driven recruitment: guidelines from public health research. THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOETHICS : AJOB 2010; 10:16-17. [PMID: 20229407 DOI: 10.1080/15265160903585610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Craig L Fry
- University of Melbourne,Victoria, Australia.
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DeJong J, Mahfoud Z, Khoury D, Barbir F, Afifi RA. Ethical considerations in HIV/AIDS biobehavioral surveys that use respondent-driven sampling: illustrations from Lebanon. Am J Public Health 2009; 99:1562-7. [PMID: 19608961 PMCID: PMC2724443 DOI: 10.2105/ajph.2008.144832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/30/2008] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Respondent-driven sampling is especially useful for reaching hidden populations and is increasingly used internationally in public health research, particularly on HIV. Respondent-driven sampling involves peer recruitment and has a dual-incentive structure: both recruiters and their peer recruits are paid. Recent literature focusing on the ethical dimensions of this method in the US context has identified integral safeguards that protect against ethical violations. We analyzed a study of 3 groups in Lebanon who are at risk for HIV (injection drug users, men who have sex with men, female sex workers) and the ethical issues that arose. More explicit attention should be given to ethical issues involved in research implementing respondent-driven sampling of at-risk populations in developing countries, where ethical review mechanisms may be weak.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jocelyn DeJong
- Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
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HIV among injecting drug users: current epidemiology, biologic markers, respondent-driven sampling, and supervised-injection facilities. Curr Opin HIV AIDS 2009; 4:308-13. [PMID: 19532069 DOI: 10.1097/coh.0b013e32832bbc6f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW To describe recent research done primarily during the past 12 months (i.e., primarily in 2008) on the epidemiology of HIV infection among injecting drug users (IDUs). RECENT FINDINGS Major research developments include a global assessment of HIV infection among IDUs and evidence of a transition from epidemics concentrated among IDUs to generalized, heterosexual epidemics in eastern Europe and Asia. Intervention research also includes several studies of supervised-injecting facilities. Methodological research includes respondent-driven sampling and the use of hepatitis C virus and herpes simplex virus-2 as biomarkers for injecting and sexual risk. SUMMARY There have been important advances in research during the past year, but HIV infection continues to spread rapidly across many areas of the world among IDUs and their nondrug-using sex partners.
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Simultaneous recruitment of drug users and men who have sex with men in the United States and Russia using respondent-driven sampling: sampling methods and implications. J Urban Health 2009; 86 Suppl 1:5-31. [PMID: 19472058 PMCID: PMC2705484 DOI: 10.1007/s11524-009-9365-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2008] [Accepted: 05/05/2009] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The Sexual Acquisition and Transmission of HIV Cooperative Agreement Program (SATHCAP) examined the role of drug use in the sexual transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from traditional high-risk groups, such as men who have sex with men (MSM) and drug users (DU), to lower risk groups in three US cities and in St. Petersburg, Russia. SATHCAP employed respondent-driven sampling (RDS) and a dual high-risk group sampling approach that relied on peer recruitment for a combined, overlapping sample of MSM and DU. The goal of the sampling approach was to recruit an RDS sample of MSM, DU, and individuals who were both MSM and DU (MSM/DU), as well as a sample of sex partners of MSM, DU, and MSM/DU and sex partners of sex partners. The approach efficiently yielded a sample of 8,355 participants, including sex partners, across all four sites. At the US sites-Los Angeles, Chicago, and Raleigh-Durham-the sample consisted of older (mean age = 41 years), primarily black MSM and DU (both injecting and non-injecting); in St. Petersburg, the sample consisted of primarily younger (mean age = 28 years) MSM and DU (injecting). The US sites recruited a large proportion of men who have sex with men and with women, an important group with high potential for establishing a generalized HIV epidemic involving women. The advantage of using the dual high-risk group approach and RDS was, for the most part, the large, efficiently recruited samples of MSM, DU, and MSM/DU. The disadvantages were a recruitment bias by race/ethnicity and income status (at the US sites) and under-enrollment of MSM samples because of short recruitment chains (at the Russian site).
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Scott G. Responses on a cautionary tale concerning the ethics of using respondent-driven sampling to study injection drug users. THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DRUG POLICY 2008. [DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2008.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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