Response Rates of Medical Providers to Internet Surveys Regarding Their Adoption of Preexposure Prophylaxis for HIV: Methodological Implications

Abstract

In 2016 to 2017, we surveyed primary care providers (PCPs) in upper Manhattan and the South Bronx, New York, on their knowledge, attitudes, and practices surrounding preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV. Despite efforts to promote survey response, we were only able to obtain a meager response rate, limiting our ability to interpret results. In this short communication, we examine our survey’s methodology, as well as the methods used by other similar studies, in order to suggest how certain strategies appear to influence PCP response to PrEP surveys. Administering the survey in a variety of modes, sampling from a professional organization’s listserv, promoting the survey topic’s relevance to potential participants, and offering monetary incentives to each survey respondent all appear to be promising strategies for increasing response rates in PrEP provider surveys.