PartyIntents examines whether portal survey methods could be used to anonymously survey gay and bisexual men about HIV-risk behaviors before and after a weekend party-oriented vacation. The study recruited 97% of eligible men and of these 489 participants 47% completed the follow-up assessment. Approximately one half of the men intended to use…

Background: Injury is the leading cause of death for persons aged 1-44 years in the United States. Injuries have a substantial economic cost. For that reason, regional systems of trauma care in which the more acutely injured patients are transported to Level-I (L-I) trauma centers (TCs) has been widely advocated. However, the cost of TC care is…

In an effort to promote evidence-based practice, government officials, researchers, and program developers have developed lists of model programs in the prevention field. This article reviews the evidence used by seven best-practice lists to select five model prevention programs. The authors' examination of this research raises questions about the…

Disciplinary alternative schools have a reputation as gateways to the juvenile and criminal justice systems. The authors conducted an evaluation of an intervention (Strategies for Success) designed to divert seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-grade alternative school students from this gateway. They used propensity score matching and a multivariate…

Young adults (initial sample of 4,280) were offered a $20 prepayment, $20 postpayment, or $25 postpayment for participation in a survey. Those in the large incentive condition were 7 percentage points more likely to return the survey than those in the smaller postpayment group. Prepayment had a smaller, less reliable effect. Outlines…

This study investigates trajectories of heroin use and subsequent consequences in a sample of 471 male heroin addicts who were admitted to the California Civil Addict Program in 1964-1965 and followed over 33 years. Applying a two-part growth mixture modeling strategy to heroin use level during the first 16 years of the addiction careers since…

This study reports results from an evaluation of the experimental Rio Hondo driving under the influence (DUI) court of Los Angeles County, California. Interviews and official record checks with 284 research participants who were randomly assigned to a DUI court or a traditional criminal court were assessed at baseline and at 24-month follow-up.…

Three questionnaire mailings to 1,535 physicians that produced 977 responses were analyzed. The only variable significantly different across the mailings was medical specialty. This finding indicates that the more homogeneous the group the greater the response rate. Issues of nonresponse bias and insufficient sample size are discussed. (TJH)

Studied how multiple methods of follow-up can enhance the rate of response to mail questionnaires. The initial sample of 1,505 adults was contacted by mail for a health behavior survey. Follow-ups by mail and telephone resulted in an 89% response rate and demonstrated the efficacy of the follow-up methods. (SLD)

Strategies are presented for analyzing longitudinal research designs with many waves of data using hierarchical linear modeling. The approach defines well-focused parameters that yield meaningful effect size estimates and significance tests. It is illustrated with data from the Boys Town Follow-Up Study. (SLD)

The relationships among grade, substance assessed, and type of measurement and statistical analysis used in the detection of external validity threats resulting from subject attrition in a modal follow-up study were examined in 6 successive 2-year panels of adolescents, including 4,819 overall stayers and 1,897 dropouts. (SLD)

A study with follow-up interviews of services for homeless and mentally ill persons (original sample of 163) had a very high success rate of over 70% in tracking this difficult to locate population. Techniques for locating clients are presented, as identified by a focus group of five researchers. (SLD)

Approaches to the practical problems of finding former offenders and making them want to participate in a study are described for a study of desistance from crime. In the example, a success rate of 78% was achieved for a sample of 50 former offenders. Attention to individual circumstances is critical. (SLD)

A meta-analysis of school-based substance abuse prevention studies revealed that the mean proportion of subjects retained dropped from 81.4 percent at the three-month followup to 67.5 percent at the three-year followup. Researchers should interpret their results in light of these normative data and adopt second-effort strategies to reduce…

The behavior of children from a wide range of family backgrounds was observed in elementary school classrooms several years after program services had been delivered. The results indicated that program participants benefited, particularly in the area of academic learning behavior. (Author/BW)