ArticleBMC medical research methodology2019
Population-based assessment of health, healthcare utilisation, and specific needs of Syrian migrants in Germany: what is the best sampling method?
Article in BMC medical research methodology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Precarious employment and migrant workers' mental health: a systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies.Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health · 2022Pooled it
- Article
- Article
- Assessment of Food Insecurity, Diet Quality, and Mental Health Status Among Syrian Refugee Mothers with Young Children.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Improving the reporting on health equity in observational research (STROBE-Equity): extension checklist and elaboration.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Article
- Health of refugees settled in Australia over time and generations: a transformative mixed methods study protocol.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Prevalence and risk factors of food insecurity among Syrian refugees in Türkiye.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Using Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS) to Identify the Healthcare Needs among Women of Reproductive Age Who Migrated from Venezuela to Brazil, 2018-2021.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Mental health challenges of recent immigrants in precarious work environments - a qualitative study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- [Health Literacy of People with Former Soviet Union and Turkish Migration Background in Germany].Gesundheitswesen (Bundesverband der Arzte des Offentlichen Gesundheitsdienstes (Germany)) · 2023Article
- Design and implementation of a web-based, respondent-driven sampling solution.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2023Article
- Access to Healthcare Services among Thai Immigrants in Japan: A Study of the Areas Surrounding Tokyo.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- HIV Surveillance and Research for Migrant Populations: Protocol Integrating Respondent-Driven Sampling, Case Finding, and Medicolegal Services for Venezuelans Living in Colombia.JMIR research protocols · 2022Article
- Differences in health literacy domains among migrants and their descendants in Germany.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Challenges and lessons learned in mental health research among refugees: a community-based study in Turkey.BMC public health · 2021Article
- Applications and Recruitment Performance of Web-Based Respondent-Driven Sampling: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Article
- Article
- Protocol of a population-based prospective COVID-19 cohort study Munich, Germany (KoCo19).BMC public health · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundStudies elucidating health-related information and special needs of Syrian migrants living in Germany are urgently required. However, data is scarce and finding appropriate sampling strategies to obtain representative results is challenging. In order to increase survey response in hard-to-reach populations, new methods were developed. One of them is respondent-driven sampling (RDS), a network sampling technique. We aimed to assess if respondent-driven sampling is a better approach to recruit Syrian migrants for health research than classical random sampling via the population registry.
methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted in Munich between April and June 2017 inviting adults (18+ years) born in Syria to answer an online questionnaire asking for sociodemographic and health-related information. Recruitment of participants was done using a) random sampling via the population registry (PR) and b) RDS. The two study populations recruited via respondent-driven sampling and the population registry were compared to a sample drawn from the population registry with respect to gender and citizenship. In addition, the two study populations were compared to each other regarding self-reported health status, healthcare utilisation, lifestyle factors, social network size, and acculturation.
resultsOf 374 persons randomly drawn from the population registry, 49 individuals answered the questionnaire completely (response: 13.1%) while via RDS 195 participants were recruited by 16 seeds. More persons possessed German citizenship in the total sample (20.5, 95% CI: 16.6 to 24.8%) and in the PR study population (28.6, 95% CI: 16.6 to 43.3%) than in the study population (0.5, 95% CI: 0.1 to 1.5%). Participants recruited via the population registry were older, smoked less, reported more often to hold a university degree, and indicated a higher prevalence of chronic diseases, more frequent healthcare utilisation, higher scores of acculturation as well as a larger social network compared to the study population obtained via RDS.
conclusionsResponse was very low in the PR sample. The number of participants recruited via RDS was larger and led to a study population with substantially different characteristics. Our study thus indicates that RDS is a useful way to gain access to specific subgroups that are hard to reach via traditional random sampling.
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