Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Signaling does not adequately improve diary compliance

  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Hypothesis: Compliance with a paper diary protocol would be improved by using auditory signaling.Background: Prior research has demonstrated that compliance with the reporting schedule in paper diary protocols is poor.Methods: Adults with chronic pain (N = 27) were recruited from the community to participate in a 24-day experience sampling protocol of 3 pain assessments per day (10:00 a.m., 4:00p.m., 8:00p.m.). Diaries were instrumented to record openings and closings, thereby permitting determination of date and time when the participant could have made diary entries. Participants were signaled with a programmed wristwatch at the onset of each 30-min assessment window. Two compliance windows were defined: ± 15 min and ± 45 min of the targeted assessment time.Results: Self-reported compliance based on participants’ paper diaries was 85% and 91% for the 30- and 90-min windows. Verified compliance was 29% and 39% for the two windows. Signaling produced a significant increment in verified compliance when compared with an identical trial without signaling. A significant eroding of verified compliance was observed across the 3 weeks of the study.Conclusions: Self-report dating of diary entries may be misleading investigators about compliance with diary protocols. Although auditory signaling enhances compliance, the result is still unsatisfactory.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Verbrugge L: Health diaries.Medical Care. 1980,18:73–95.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Eisenhower D, Mathiowetz N, Morganstein D: Recall error: Sources and bias reduction techniques. In Biemer P, Groves L, Lyberg N, Mathiowetz N, Sudman S (eds),Measurement Errors in Surveys. New York: Wiley, 1991, 127–144.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bradburn N, Rips L, Shevell S: Answering autobiographical questions: The impact of memory and inference on surveys.Science. 1987,April 10:157–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Ross M: Relation of implicit theories to the construction of personal histories.Psychological Review. 1989,96:341–357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Gorin A, Stone A: Recall biases and cognitive errors in retrospective self-reports: A call for momentary assessments. In Baum A, Revenson T, Singer J (eds),Handbook of Health Psychology. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2001, 405–413.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Schwarz N, Sudman S:Autobiographical memory and the validity of retrospective reports. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Goodwin A, Sher K: Effects of induced mood on diagnostic interviewing: Evidence for a mood and memory effect.Psychological Assessment. 1993,5:197–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Clark DM, Teasdale JD: Diurnal variation in clinical depression and accessibility of memories of positive and negative experiences.Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1982,91:87–95.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Harkins S, Price D, Braith J: Effects of extraversion and neuroticism on experimental pain, clinical pain, and illness behavior.Pain. 1989,36:209–218.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Wade J, Dougherty L, Hart R, Cook D: Patterns of normal personality structure among chronic pain patients.Pain. 1992,48:37–43.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Eich E, Reeves JL, Jaeger B, Graff-Radford SB: Memory for pain: Relation between past and present pain intensity.Pain. 1985,23:375–380.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Smith W, Safer M: Effects of present pain level on recall of chronic pain and medication use.Pain. 1993,55:355–361.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Bradburn N: Temporal representation and event dating. In Stone A, Turkkan J, Bachrach C, Jobe J, Kurtzman H, Cain V (eds),The Science of Self-Report: Implications for Research and Practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2000, 49–61.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Shiffman S: Real-time self-report of momentary states in the natural environment: Computerized ecological momentary assessment. In Stone A, Turkkan J, Bachrach C, Jobe J, Kurtzman H, Cain V (eds),The Science of Self-Report: Implications for Research and Practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2000, 277–296.

    Google Scholar 

  15. de Vries M, Dijkman-Caes C, Deslespaul P: The sampling of experience: A method of co-measuring the co-occurrence of anxiety and depression in daily life. In Maser J, Cloninger C (eds),Comorbidity of Mood and Anxiety Disorders. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, 1990, 869.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Delespaul P:Assessing Schizophrenia in Daily Life: The Experience Sampling Method. Maastricht, The Netherlands: Universitaire Pers Maastricht, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Stone A, Shiffman S: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in behavioral medicine.Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 1994,16:199–202.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Shiffman S, Hufford M, Hickcox M, et al.: Remember that? A comparison of realtime vs. retrospective recall of smoking lapses.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1997,65:292–300.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Bornstein RF: Implicit and self-attributed dependency strivings: Differential relationships to laboratory and field measures of help seeking.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1998,75:778–787.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Drossman DA, Leserman J, Li Z, et al.: Effects of coping on health outcome among women with gastrointestinal disorders.Psychosomatic Medicine. 2000,62:309–317.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Feldman SI, Downey G, Schaffer-Neitz R: Pain, negative mood, and perceived support in chronic pain patients: A daily diary study of people with reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1999,67:776–785.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Diener E, Fujita F: Resources, personal strivings, and subjective well-being: A nomothetic and idiographic approach.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1995,68:926–935.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. de Wit R, van Dam F, Hanneman M, et al.: Evaluation of the use of a pain diary in chronic cancer pain patients at home.Pain. 1999,79:89–99.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Richter JE, Kahrilas PJ, Sontag SJ, et al.: Comparing lansoprazole and omeprazole in onset of heartburn relief: Results of a randomized, controlled trial in erosive esophagitis patients.American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2001,96:3089–3098.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Affleck G, Tennen H, Urrows S, Higgins P: Individual differences in the day-to-day experience of chronic pain: A prospective daily study of rheumatoid arthritis patients.Health Psychology. 1991,10:419–426.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Farnworth L: Time use and leisure occupations of young offenders.American Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2000,54:315–325.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Carstensen LL, Pasupathi M, Mayr U, Nesselroade JR: Emotional experience in everyday life across the adult life span.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2000,79:644–655.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Hillbrand M, Waite BM, Miller DS, Spitz RT, Lingswiler VM: Serum cholesterol concentrations and mood states in violent psychiatric patients: An experience sampling study.Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 2000,23:519–529.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Shiu AT: The part-time student role: Implications for the emotional experience of managing multiple roles amongst Hong Kong public health nurses.Nurse Education Today. 1999,19:188–198.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. van Eck M, Berkhof H, Nicolson N, Sulon J: The effects of perceived stress, traits, mood states, and stressful daily events on salivary cortisol.Psychosomatic Medicine. 1996,58:447–458.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Frable DE, Platt L, Hoey S: Concealable stigmas and positive self-perceptions: Feeling better around similar others.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1998,74:909–922.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Gauvin L, Rejeski WJ, Norris JL: A naturalistic study of the impact of acute physical activity on feeling states and affect in women.Health Psychology. 1996,15:391–397.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Cruise CE, Broderick J, Porter L, Kaell A, Stone AA: Reactive effects of diary self-assessment in chronic pain patients.Pain. 1996,67:253–258.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Ockenfels MC, Porter L, Smyth J, et al.: Effect of chronic stress associated with unemployment on salivary cortisol: Overall cortisol levels, diurnal rhythm, and acute stress reactivity.Psychosomatic Medicine. 1995,57:460–467.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Richards MH, Duckett E: The relationship of maternal employment to early adolescent daily experience with and without parents.Child Development. 1994,65:225–236.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Turner S, Smedley J, Cherry N: Estimating occupational health events in workers with asthma or diabetes: A comparison of diary and snapshot methods.Occupational Medicine. 2001,51:325–331.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Merlo J, Berglund G, Wirfalt E, et al.: Self-administered questionnaire compared with a personal diary for assessment of current use of hormone therapy: An analysis of 16,060 women.American Journal of Epidemiology. 2000,152:788–792.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Maunsell E, Allard P, Dorval M, Labbe J: A brief pain diary for ambulatory patients with advanced cancer.Cancer. 2000,88:2387–2397.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Urquhart J: Patient non-compliance with drug regimens: Measurement, clinical correlates, economic impact.European Heart Journal. 1996,17(Suppl. A):8–15.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Urquhart J, De Klerk E: Contending paradigms for the interpretation of data on patient compliance with therapeutic drug regimens.Statistics in Medicine. 1998,17:251–267, 387–389.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Mallion JM, Baguet JP, Siche JP, Tremel F, de Gaudemaris R: Compliance, electronic monitoring and antihypertensive drugs.Journal of Hypertension. 1998,16(Suppl. 1):S75-S79.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Boudes P: Drug compliance in therapeutic trials: A review.Controlled Clinical Trials. 1998,19:257–268.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Rand CS, Wise RA, Nides M, et al.: Metered-dose inhaler adherence in a clinical trial.American Review of Respiratory Disease. 1992,146:1559–1564.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Spector SL, Kinsman R, Mawhinney H, et al.: Compliance of patients with asthma with an experimental aerosolized medication: Implications for controlled clinical trials.Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 1986,77(1, Pt. 1):65–70.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Mazze RS, Shamoon H, Pasmantier R, et al.: Reliability of blood glucose monitoring by patients with diabetes mellitus.American Journal of Medicine. 1984,77:211–217.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. Nordmann A, Frach B, Walker T, Martina B, Battegay E: Comparison of self-reported home blood pressure measurements with automatically stored values and ambulatory blood pressure.Blood Pressure. 2000,9:200–205.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Kudielka B, Broderick J, Kirschbaum C: Compliance with saliva sampling protocols: Electronic monitoring reveals invalid cortisol daytime profiles in noncompliant subjects.Psychosomatic Medicine (in press).

  48. Stone A, Shiffman S, Schwartz J, Broderick J, Hufford M: Patient compliance with paper diaries.British Medical Journal. 2002,324:1193–1194.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  49. McDowell I, Newell C:Measuring health: A guide to rating scales and questionnaires (2nd Ed.). New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Jensen M, Karoly P, Harris P: Assessing the affective component of chronic pain: Development of the Pain Discomfort Scale.Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 1991,35:149–154.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Ramey D, Raynauld J-P, Fries J: The Health Assessment Questionnaire 1992: Status and review.Arthritis Care and Research. 1992,5:119–129.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. Melzack R: The short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire.Pain. 1987,30:191–197.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. Mawhinney H, Spector SL, Kinsman RA, et al.: Compliance in clinical trials of two nonbronchodilator, antiasthma medications.Annals of Allergy. 1991,66:294–299.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  54. Coutts JA, Gibson NA, Paton JY: Measuring compliance with inhaled medication in asthma.Archives of Disease in Childhood. 1992,67:332–333.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  55. Vanhove GF, Schapiro JM, Winters MA, Merigan TC, Blaschke TF: Patient compliance and drug failure in protease inhibitor monotherapy.Journal of the American Medical Association. 1996,276:1955–1956.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Paterson DL, Swindells S, Mohr J, et al.: Adherence to protease inhibitor therapy and outcomes in patients with HIV infection.Annals of Internal Medicine. 2000,133:21–30.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Burney KD, Krishnan K, Ruffin MT, Zhang D, Brenner DE: Adherence to single daily dose of aspirin in a chemoprevention trial. An evaluation of self-report and microelectronic monitoring.Archives of Family Medicine. 1996,5:297–300.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  58. Pullar T, Kumar S, Feely M: Compliance in clinical trials.Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. 1989,48:871–875.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  59. Affleck G, Tennen H, Keefe FJ, et al.: Everyday life with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis: Independent effects of disease and gender on daily pain, mood, and coping.Pain. 1999,83:601–609.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  60. Schanberg LE, Sandstrom MJ, Starr K, et al.: The relationship of daily mood and stressful events to symptoms in juvenile rheumatic disease.Arthritis Care and Research. 2000,13:33–41.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  61. Carney MA, Armeli S, Tennen H, Affleck G, O’Neil TP: Positive and negative daily events, perceived stress, and alcohol use: A diary study.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2000,68:788–798.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  62. Piette J: Interactive voice response systems in the diagnosis and management of chronic disease.American Journal of Managed Care. 2000,6:817–827.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  63. Bardone AM, Krahn DD, Goodman BM, Searles JS: Using interactive voice response technology and timeline follow-back methodology in studying binge eating and drinking behavior: Different answers to different forms of the same question?Addictive Behaviors. 2000,25:1–11.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  64. Searles JS, Perrine MW, Mundt JC, Helzer JE: Self-report of drinking using touch-tone telephone: Extending the limits of reliable daily contact.Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 1995,56:375–382.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  65. Perrine MW, Mundt JC, Searles JS, Lester LS: Validation of daily self-reported alcohol consumption using interactive voice response (IVR) technology.Journal of Studies on Alcohol. 1995,56:487–490.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  66. Stone AA, Shiffman S, Schwartz JE, Broderick JE, Hufford MR: Patient compliance with paper and electronic diaries.Controlled Clinical Trials (in press).

  67. Jamison RN, Raymond SA, Levine JG, et al.: Electronic diaries for monitoring chronic pain: 1-year validation study.Pain. 2001,91:277–285.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, Putnam Hall, Stony Brook University, 11794-8790, Stony Brook, NY

    Joan E. Broderick Ph.D., Joseph E. Schwartz Ph.D. & Arthur A. Stone Ph.D.

  2. University of Pittsburgh, and Invivodata, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA

    Saul Shiffman Ph.D.

  3. Invivodata, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA

    Michael R. Hufford Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Joan E. Broderick Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joseph E. Schwartz Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Saul Shiffman Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Michael R. Hufford Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Arthur A. Stone Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joan E. Broderick Ph.D..

Additional information

Disclosure: invivodata, inc. supplies software for the use of electronic diaries in clinical trials. Saul Shiffman is a co-founder and the Chief Science Officer of invivodata, inc. Michael Hufford is Vice President for Scientific Affairs at invivodata, inc. Arthur A. Stone is Associate Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of invivodata, inc.

This research was supported by National Cancer Institute Grant CA-85819 (Arthur A. Stone, Principal Investigator) and in-kind support from invivodata, inc., Pittsburgh, PA.

We thank Daniel Arnold, Doyle Carney, Julie Grassell, Corey Harmon, and Jill Jackowski for assistance with completing this study.

About this article

Cite this article

Broderick, J.E., Schwartz, J.E., Shiffman, S. et al. Signaling does not adequately improve diary compliance. ann. behav. med. 26, 139–148 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324796ABM2602_06

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324796ABM2602_06

Keywords

Search

Navigation