Influenza pandemic preparedness: motivation for protection among small and medium businesses in Australia

Watkins, Rochelle E; Cooke, Feonagh C; Donovan, Robert J; MacIntyre, C Raina; Itzwerth, Ralf; Plant, Aileen J

In total, 832 eligible businesses were contacted and 201 interviews were completed, producing an overall response rate of 24 per cent. The response rate of 15 per cent (101/ 660) for New South Wales (NSW) was considerably lower than the 58 per cent (100/172) achieved for Western Australia (WA), but consistent with the different sampling methods used. There was no significant difference between participating and non-participating businesses in WA according to business size (p = 0.3) or industry type (p = 0.09). Similar data on the characteristics of non-participating businesses in NSW were not available for analysis. Nonparticipation was most frequently associated with the business owner or manager being either too busy or unavailable during the interview period, explaining 83 per cent and 85 per cent of refusals in the WA and NSW samples respectively.