OBJECTIVE: Feasibility of comparing risk profiles by questionnaire of participants and nonparticipants in a cervical screening programme: does asking information on sexual behaviour by means of a questionnaire lead to high non-response? is the non-response selective (related to participation in the screening) and if so how can we limit this? DESIGN: A postal survey on risk factors for cervical cancer, including sexual behaviour, in a group of participants and nonparticipants. SETTING: Two villages, Wijchen and Beuningen, situated near Nijmegen in The Netherlands. SUBJECTS: 139 participants and 99 nonparticipants in the national screening programme in 1989 or 1990. RESULTS: Overall, the response to the questionnaire was high: 83%. Collecting the questionnaire by asking the women to return it by mail in a stamped addressed envelope and one reminder by phone showed a response rate of 79%. This response was selective: 93% of the participants in the screening responded and 61% of the nonparticipants. Collecting them personally showed an extremely high response of 96% which was not selective. Only 3 respondents did not answer the questions about sexual behaviour. MAIN CONCLUSION: Obtaining information on sexual behaviour by questionnaire is feasible. Selective response can be limited by an extremely high response rate, which can be achieved by collecting the questionnaires personally.
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Kant et al. (1994) studied this question.
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