Using social media to recruit individuals for health-related research: Feasibility and lessons learned

Strategies for Identifying and Recruiting Women at High Risk for Breast Cancer for Research Outside of Clinical Settings: Observational Study

BACKGROUND

Research is needed to understand and address barriers to risk management for women at high (≥20% lifetime) risk for breast cancer, but recruiting this population for research studies is challenging.

OBJECTIVE

This paper compares a variety of recruitment strategies used for a cross-sectional, observational study of high-risk women.

METHODS

Eligible participants were assigned female at birth, aged 25-85 years, English-speaking, living in the United States, and at high risk for breast cancer as defined by the American College of Radiology. Individuals were excluded if they had a personal history of breast cancer, prior bilateral mastectomy, medical contraindications for magnetic resonance imaging, or were not up-to-date on screening mammography per American College of Radiology guidelines. Participants were recruited from August 2020 to January 2021 using the following mechanisms: targeted Facebook advertisements, Twitter posts, ResearchMatch (a web-based research recruitment database), community partner promotions, paper flyers, and community outreach events. Interested individuals were directed to a secure website with eligibility screening questions. Participants self-reported method of recruitment during the eligibility screening. For each recruitment strategy, we calculated the rate of eligible respondents and completed surveys, costs per eligible participant, and participant demographics.

RESULTS

We received 1566 unique responses to the eligibility screener. Participants most often reported recruitment via Facebook advertisements (724/1566, 46%) and ResearchMatch (646/1566, 41%). Community partner promotions resulted in the highest proportion of eligible respondents (24/46, 52%), while ResearchMatch had the lowest proportion of eligible respondents (73/646, 11%). Word of mouth was the most cost-effective recruitment strategy (US $4.66 per completed survey response) and paper flyers were the least cost-effective (US $1448.13 per completed survey response). The demographic characteristics of eligible respondents varied by recruitment strategy: Twitter posts and community outreach events resulted in the highest proportion of Hispanic or Latina women (1/4, 25% and 2/6, 33%, respectively), and community partner promotions resulted in the highest proportion of non-Hispanic Black women (4/24, 17%).

CONCLUSIONS

Although recruitment strategies varied in their yield of study participants, results overall support the feasibility of identifying and recruiting women at high risk for breast cancer outside of clinical settings. Researchers must balance the associated costs and participant yield of various recruitment strategies in planning future studies focused on high-risk women.

#HealthyLifestyle: A Q methodology analysis of why young adults like to use social media to access health information

Social media has become an integral part of modern society. Many people now turn to social media platforms to share or gain knowledge about best practices for personal health. This new form of health information dissemination has greatly increased in popularity especially among young adults. Currently, more research is needed to identify why so many individuals choose to turn to social media for health information. Using Q methodology, this study aimed to uncover the attitudes, opinions, and beliefs of young adults who engage with social media as a means of obtaining health and fitness information. Results revealed four primary factors: the Health Connoisseurs, the Health Enthusiasts, the Loyalists, and the Virtual Befrienders. Each group possessed different motivations for accessing health-related content on social media. The insights gained from this study can benefit public health institutions, advertisers, and social media content creators as they disseminate health information on social media platforms.

Effectiveness and Cost of Using Facebook Recruitment to Elicit Canadian Women's Perspectives on Bone Health and Osteoporosis: Cross-Sectional Survey Study

BACKGROUND

Surveys can help health researchers better understand the public's perspectives and needs regarding prevalent conditions such as osteoporosis, which affects more than two-thirds of postmenopausal women. However, recruitment of large cohorts for survey research can be time-consuming and expensive. With 2.9 billion active users across the globe and reasonable advertising costs, Facebook (Meta Platforms, Inc) has emerged as an effective recruitment tool for surveys, although previous studies have targeted young populations (<50 years of age) and none have focused on bone health.

OBJECTIVE

We assessed the effectiveness and cost of using Facebook to recruit Canadian women aged ≥45 years to share their perspectives on bone health and osteoporosis via a web-based survey.

METHODS

We developed a 15-minute web-based survey with the goal of eliciting perspectives on bone health and osteoporosis. A Facebook advertisement was placed for 2 weeks in February 2022, during which time it was shown to women of age ≥45 years who resided in Canada, inviting them to participate and offering a chance to win 1 of 5 CAD $100 gift cards (at the time of this study [February 14, 2022], a currency exchange rate of CAD $1=US $0.79 was applicable). Those who clicked on the advertisement were taken to an eligibility screening question on the survey home screen. Individuals who confirmed eligibility were automatically directed to the first survey question. All individuals who answered the first survey question were considered participants and included in the analyses. We determined the survey reach, click rate, cooperation rate, completion rate, cost per click, and cost per participant. Sociodemographic characteristics of respondents were compared with data from the 2021 Canadian Census.

RESULTS

The Facebook advertisement was shown to 34,086 unique Facebook users, resulting in 2033 link clicks (click rate: 6.0%). A total of 1320 individuals completed the eligibility screening question, 1195 started the survey itself (cooperation rate: 58.8%), and 966 completed the survey (completion rate: 47.5%). The cost of the advertising campaign was CAD $280.12, resulting in a cost per click of CAD $0.14 and a cost per participant of CAD $0.23. The 1195 participants ranged in age from 45-89 years (mean 65, SD 7 years), 921 (93.7%) were of White ethnicity, 854 (88.3%) had completed some postsecondary education, and 637 (65.8%) resided in urban areas. Responses were received from residents of all 10 Canadian provinces and 2 of 3 territories. When compared to 2021 Canadian Census data, postsecondary education and rural residence were overrepresented in our study population.

CONCLUSIONS

Facebook advertising is an efficient, effective, and inexpensive way of recruiting large samples of older women for participation in web-based surveys for health research. However, it is important to recognize that this modality is a form of convenience sampling and the benefits of Facebook recruitment must be balanced with its limitations, which include selection bias and coverage error.