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Comparison of a Traditional Questionnaire With an Icon/Calendar-Based Questionnaire to Assess Occupational History

Author: Engel, Lawrence S., Ph.D.; Keifer, Matthew C., M.D., M.P.H.
Date Published: 2001


Self-reported work histories are an essential tool for estimating exposure in many occupational epidemiological studies. However, the transience of some occupations such as farm work can hamper recall, resulting in inaccurate reporting. To address this problem, we have developed an icon/calendar-based questionnaire. This study compares work histories collected via this questionnaire to those collected via a traditional questionnaire. Number of jobs and amount of work-time accounted for sense first employment were significantly greater using icon-calendar questionnaire that the traditional questionnaire, the disparity increasing with time from the date of interview. The ratio of number of jobs in the traditional questionnaire to number of jobs in the icon-calendar decreased form 100% in the most recent time period to 0.0% in the earliest time period. While the percentage of time explained by employment remained relatively constant across time periods in the icon-calendar questionnaire, ranging from 86.3% to 98.9%, it rapidly decreased with time in the traditional questionnaire, from 77.9% in the most recent time period to 0.0% in the earliest time period. The icon-calendar questionnaire was more effective than the traditional questionnaire for obtaining complex work histories during interviews, producing a more complete picture of a person's work history. You can purchase the article here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11675619

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