It\u2019s not raining men: a mixed-methods study investigating methods of improving male recruitment to health behaviour research

Jillian Ryan,Corneel Vandelanotte,Brian Le,Gisela Van Kessel,Ronald Plotnikoff,Sarah Edney,Carol Maher,Tim Olds,Luke Lopian

doi:10.1186/s12889-019-7087-4

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough gender is an important determinant of health behaviour with males less likely to perform health-protective behaviours, samples in health behaviour research are heavily biased towards females. This study investigated the use of online social network, Facebook, to reach and recruit inactive males to a team-based, social, and gamified physical activity randomised controlled trial.MethodsMethodological techniques included a narrative literature review, survey of inactive males (n = 34) who rated advertisement images and text captions on scales of 1–10, and trial Facebook-delivered recruitment campaigns. Advertisement effectiveness was measured by cost-per-click to the study website, number of expressions of interest, and study enrolments from males.ResultsSurvey results showed that vibrant images of men exercising accompanied by concise captions (< 35 words) were most effective. An advertising campaign incorporating these components achieved a cost-per-click of $0.60, with 80% of n = 50 expressions of interest being from men, a marked improvement from baseline campaigns in which only 11% of expressions of interest were from men. Despite this, men who were recruited through the targeted campaign failed to enrol into the study, primarily due to reluctance to invite friends to join their team. An alternative strategy of encouraging females to invite men boosted male participation from 18% of the sample at baseline to 29% in the targeted recruitment phase.ConclusionsEvidence-based approaches can improve Facebook recruitment outcomes, however, there are complex barriers hindering male recruitment to health behaviour studies that may necessitate multi-faceted strategies including involvement of family and friends.

Highlights

Gender is an important determinant of health behaviour with males less likely to perform health-protective behaviours, samples in health behaviour research are heavily biased towards females
Research shows that use of Online social network (OSN) is positively associated with sedentary behaviour [11], suggesting that such platforms may facilitate access to inactive populations, who are in greatest need of health behaviour interventions
Phase one: baseline campaign The Cost per click (CPC) for ads targeting men and women together remained stable from pre-study campaigns at $AUD0.39, whereas the CPC for male-targeted ads was $AUD0.67

Summary

Introduction

Gender is an important determinant of health behaviour with males less likely to perform health-protective behaviours, samples in health behaviour research are heavily biased towards females. This study investigated the use of online social network, Facebook, to reach and recruit inactive males to a team-based, social, and gamified physical activity randomised controlled trial. Research shows that use of OSNs is positively associated with sedentary behaviour [11], suggesting that such platforms may facilitate access to inactive populations, who are in greatest need of health behaviour interventions. Facebook is the largest of the OSNs, with 2.07 billion active users worldwide [12], 56% of which are men [13] It offers broad reach as a recruitment platform, whilst simultaneously allowing content to be targeted to specific users based on their demographic characteristics and geographical location

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