Procedure
Twelve 3rd and 4th-year psychiatry
residents, trained as interviewers and data abstracters, contacted all
eligible patients and coded the responses on the online questionnaire.
As was required by the ethics board, the interviewer recorded the
respondent’s verbal consent; written consents were taken from 15
patients who did not want to give recorded consent. Up to three calls at
different times were required before classifying them as
“non-contact”. For those who answered the phone, the interviewer
described the study using a standard text and invited the respondent to
participate in the study. Information time of calls, and result of calls
were recorded on an online excel sheet. During the six months of data
collection (October 2020-March 2021) 492 interviews were completed. The
study PI held regular Zoom meetings with the interviewers to give
feedback and provide supervision on any problems that occurred.