Table 1.
Key characteristics of RDS recruitment methodology in the Rural Opioid Initiative by study
| Study | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | IL | KY | NC | NE | OH | OR | WI | |
| Personal network size used as a seed selection criterion | 1/7 | No | Yesa | No | No | No | No | No |
| Total number of seeds | 562 | 53 | 48 | 50 | 51 | 45 | 42 | 273 |
| Non-generative seeds | 251 (45%) | 38 (72%) | 24 (50%) | 13 (26%) | 13 (25%) | 23 (51%) | 18 (43%) | 122 (45%) |
| Seeds with ≥5 waves | 46 (8%) | 1 (2%) | 4 (8%) | 6 (12%) | 11 (22%) | 3 (7%) | 4 (10%) | 17 (6%) |
| Wave size range, median (range) | 1 (0-14) | 0 (0-5) | 0.5 (0-13) | 1 (0-11) | 1 (0-14) | 0 (0-13) | 1 (0-7) | 1 (0-11) |
| Coupons per recruiterb | 3-7 | 6 | 3 | 3-4 | 3-7 | 4-5 | 3-4 | 3-5 |
| Incentive for participationc | $20-40 | $40 for completing the survey | $45 for completing the survey and rapid testing | $40 for completing the survey | $20 for completing the survey and rapid testing | $25 for completing the survey | $25 for completing the survey | $20 for completing the survey and rapid testing |
| Incentive for recruitment | $10-20 | $20 per eligible referral | $10 per eligible referral who enrolled | $20 per eligible referral who enrolled | $10 per eligible referral who completed all study activities | $10 per eligible referral | $10 per eligible referral | $10 per eligible referral who enrolled |
| Duplicate participants identified | 20 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 14 |
| Downstream recruits of duplicates | 31 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 18 |
Abbreviations: IL Illinois, KY Kentucky, NC North Carolina, NE New England (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont), OH Ohio, OR Oregon, WI Wisconsin
aSeeds had to be “highly connected,” which was defined as reporting having used drugs with ≥10 people in the past 30 days for women and ≥20 people in the past 30 days for men; thresholds determined using the top quartile of network size based on gender-stratified analyses of preliminary data from an online survey
bRange given for sites that changed coupon policies while the study was ongoing
cFor completing study activities (baseline survey and biological testing)