• Helen E Tilbrook, Taeko Becque, Hannah Buckley, Hugh MacPherson, Mathew Bailey, and David J Torgerson.
• Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, UK.
• J Eval Clin Pract. 2015 Apr 1; 21 (2): 202-4.

RationaleAttrition is a threat to the validity of randomized trials. Few randomized studies have been conducted within randomized trials to test methods of reducing attrition.AimTo test whether using yellow post-it notes on follow-up questionnaires in the ATLAS treatment trial for neck pain reduces attrition.MethodNested trial within a trial. ATLAS participants were randomized to have their 6-month follow-up questionnaire have a 3' yellow post-it note with a handwritten message encouraging return of questionnaire.Results499 participants were independently randomized using simple allocation to receive the post-it notes or not. Two hundred fifteen of the 256 (84.0%) participants in the intervention group returned their questionnaire compared with 205 of the 243 (84.4%) in the control group. There was no difference in time to response.ConclusionYellow post-it notes do not enhance questionnaire return rates for participants in a randomized trial of neck pain.© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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