Attitudes of pregnant women towards participation in perinatal epidemiological researchppe_1058 424..430 Sarah Nechuta a , Lanay M. Mudd a,c , Lynette Biery a,d , Michael R. Elliott e,f , James M. Lepkowski e,f , Nigel Paneth a,b and the Michigan Alliance for the National Children’s Study Departments of a Epidemiology, and b Pediatrics and Human Development, College of Human Medicine, c Department of Kinesiology, College of Education, and d Institute for Health Care Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, e Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, and f Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Summary Correspondence: Sarah Nechuta, MPH, Michigan State University, Department of Epidemiology, B601 West Fee Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. E-mail: snechuta@epi.msu.edu Nechuta S, Mudd LM, Biery L, Elliott MR, Lepkowski JM, Paneth N, Michigan Alliance for the National Children’s Study. Attitudes of pregnant women towards participation in perinatal epidemiological research. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2009; 23: 424–430. We assessed attitudes of a multi-ethnic sample of pregnant women in regard to par- ticipation in five data collection procedures planned for use in the National Children’s Study.A cross-sectional survey was conducted in nine prenatal clinics in Kent County, Michigan betweenApril and October 2006. Women were approached in clinic waiting rooms at the time of their first prenatal visit and 311 (91.0%) participated. Women were asked about their willingness to participate, and the smallest amount of compen- sation required for participation in a 45-min in-person interview, a 15-min telephone interview, maternal and infant medical record abstraction, and an infant physical examination. Percentages for willingness to participate were highest for telephone interview (83%), followed by in-person interview (60%), infant examination (57%), and maternal (56%) and infant medical records (54%). About 34–48% of women reported that no compensation would be required for participation by data procedure. Some women reported unwillingness to participate in telephone (9%) or personal (17%) interview, record abstraction (34%) or infant examination (26%), even with compensation. Edu- cation greater than high school was associated with increased odds of refusal for infant physical examination, adjusted odds ratio 2.44 [95% confidence interval 1.41, 4.23]. In conclusion, 9–34% of pregnant women, depending on procedure, stated they would not participate in non-invasive research procedures such as medical record abstraction and infant examination, even with compensation. Resistance to these research proce- dures was especially noted among more highly educated women. Planning for the National Children’s Study will have to address potential resistance to research among pregnant women. Keywords: pilot, National Children’s Study, refusal rate, maternal education. Introduction High participation in all components of data collection protocols in epidemiological studies is important for valid study inferences. 1 Understanding both the feasi- bility of agreement to participate in data procedures and the role of compensation for participation among different populations may improve study planning, leading to optimal recruitment and retention methods. Pregnant women may have attitudes towards research participation that differ from other populations, possi- bly due to their health status and/or interest in learn- ing about pregnancy. 2 While substantial literature exists on hypothetical attitudes towards participation in various types of 424 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3016.2009.01058.x Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 23, 424–430. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.