Non-dissemination in qualitative health research—A retrospective cohort study of conference abstracts

Dissemination bias can occur when qualitative research is published selectively, potentially reducing the confidence in qualitative evidence. This retrospective cohort study aims to quantify the extent of non-dissemination of qualitative health research by following 1,123 conference abstracts. The proportion of non-dissemination, the time to publication, as well as associations between author or study characteristics and full publication were examined. For 22.8% of these studies, no full publication could be identified within at least 6 and up to 8 years after their presentation. For those that were published, median time to publication was 11 months (95% CI 10 to 12). Studies from authors affiliated with institutions in Australia were more likely to be published than those from North America (OR 4.47; 95% CI 1.58 to 18.74). Oral presentations were more likely to be published than poster presentations (OR 3.40; 95% CI 1.57 to 8.20). Studies that used two qualitative data collection methods were more likely to be published than studies that used one qualitative method only (OR 1.53; 95% CI 1.01 to 2.38). Conference abstracts that reported no funding were less likely to be published than those which reported funding (OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.51 to 0.99). Publicly funded research was more likely to be published than privately funded research (OR 2.24; 95% CI 1.16 to 4.28). Given the considerable proportion of unpublished health-related qualitative studies, there is a reason to believe that dissemination bias may impact negatively on qualitative evidence synthesis. This can, in turn, impair decision-making that uses qualitative evidence.