Psychosocial Influences on Acceptability and Feasibility of Salivary Cortisol Collection From Community Samples of Children.

Most included studies did not explicitly study acceptability or feasibility; only 4 of 31 made it a primary objective. The review included only English-language human studies of healthy children age 12 or younger, and excluded clinical, laboratory, chronic illness, prematurity, and developmental disorder samples. It was an integrative review of secondary reports, not a new trial or patient study, so it cannot show that any strategy improves cortisol collection or child health. Reporting bias is possible: studies with few problems may not have reported them, and missing studies may have been overlooked because acceptability was mentioned briefly. Findings on ethnicity and family characteristics were inconsistent and mostly about perceived behavioral control, with little evidence on attitudes or social norms.

Do not read this as proof that salivary cortisol collection is acceptable or feasible for all community families. Most included studies did not explicitly test acceptability or feasibility, and the review reports barriers and missing data rather than a validated clinical outcome.