Recruitment In Health Research Research Articles

USING PARADATA AND MANUAL REVIEW TO DETECT AUTOMATED ONLINE RESEARCH SURVEY PARTICIPATION

Abstract With an increase in health research recruitment on social media, there is also an increase in prevalence of software known as bots auto-enrolling in online studies. Despite efforts to prevent automated fraudulent enrollment, bots have become more sophisticated with some able to bypass a CAPTCHA and generate false email addresses. This session describes such fraudulent enrollment in one study and our efforts to detect it. For an online study of family caregivers of people with dementia, we recruited via family caregiver groups on Facebook. Potential participants could proceed to the online study and immediately answer screening questions and complete the study. A CAPTCHA was used to screen non-human respondents, but we detected rapid enrollment compared with other methods, raising suspicions. Paradata generated in the process of survey administration and unusual email addresses flagged suspected bot responses. To screen the responses, we reviewed the time to complete surveys compared with known human responses. We also noted email addresses that consisted of long alphanumeric usernames not common with most human respondents. After screening for suspicious respondents, we attempted to contact the email addresses of borderline cases to verify they were real respondents. Only one of 157 (0.006%) were determined to be a real respondent. Lessons learned from this experience include using paradata as part of data quality monitoring, using survey design methods to elude automated bots, and the value of researchers interacting with participants during enrollment.

Social media recruitment for mental health research: A systematic review

BackgroundSocial media holds exciting promise for advancing mental health research recruitment, however, the extent and efficacy to which these platforms are currently in use are underexplored. ObjectiveA systematic review was conducted to characterize the current use and efficacy of social media in recruiting participants for mental health research. MethodA literature review was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsychINFO. Only non-duplicative manuscripts written in the English language and published between 1/1/2004–3/31/2019 were selected for further screening. Data extracted included study type and design, participant inclusion criteria, social media platform, advertising strategy, final recruited sample size, recruitment location, year, monetary incentives, comparison to other recruitment methods if performed, and final cost per participant. ResultsA total of 176 unique studies that used social media for mental health research recruitment were reviewed. The majority of studies were cross-sectional (62.5%) in design and recruited adults. Facebook was overwhelmingly the recruitment platform of choice (92.6%), with the use of paid advertisements being the predominant strategy (60.8%). Of the reviewed studies, substance abuse (43.8%) and mood disorders (15.3%) were the primary subjects of investigation. In 68.3% of studies, social media recruitment performed as well as or better than traditional recruitment methods in the number and cost of final enrolled participants. The majority of studies used Facebook for recruitment at a median cost per final recruited study participant of $19.47. In 55.6% of the studies, social media recruitment was the more cost-effective recruitment method when compared to traditional methods (e.g., referrals, mailing). ConclusionSocial media appears to be an effective and economical recruitment tool for mental health research. The platform raises methodological and privacy concerns not covered in current research regulations that warrant additional consideration.

Facebook ads to the rescue? Recruiting a hard to reach population into an Internet-based behavioral health intervention trial

ObjectiveFacebook (FB) ads are touted as a way to facilitate recruitment of hard to reach participants into digital health research but the evidence has been mixed. This study aimed to empirically evaluate the impact and cost-effectiveness of paid ads for recruitment into a national trial testing an Internet-based, coached intervention for parents of children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. MethodsPost hoc analysis of FB ad data and Google analytics on the online trial consent site (myStudies) were conducted on 11 campaigns employing static image/text ads. Standard metrics (e.g., click through rate, cost per 1000 impressions, cost per consent) were calculated and descriptive statistics comparing FB ad engagement and enrolled participants over time were conducted. ResultsAd campaigns were active for a combined 115 days over 58 weeks resulting in 1533 links to the online recruitment site. During the ad campaigns, the mean rate of enrolment was 1 participant every 2 days. The first 3 ad campaigns were the most cost-effective. Mean cost per enrolment was $19.27 (Canadian dollars). ConclusionsFB ads were efficient and cost-effective in broad dissemination of trial information, but more research is needed to explore the impact of saturation (how often ads are posted), design (what is in the ad), and individual determinants (who is likely to respond to an ad) on converting FB ad engagement into enrolment. Avoiding a reductionist approach to analytics will help ensure appropriate and targeted strategies remain the priority for digital health research recruitment through social media.

Adapting the buying funnel model of consumer behavior to the design of an online health research recruitment tool.

UMHealthResearch is the University of Michigan's digital health research recruitment platform. It allows health researchers to connect efficiently with potentially eligible volunteers. In 2013, the UMHealthResearch team strategically adapted a consumer behavior model, the buying funnel, to create the Digital Health Research Participation Funnel. The Digital Health Research Participation Funnel was then used to design a more active way for potential participants to volunteer for research studies through UMHealthResearch. In the 5 years before the redesign (2007-2012), an average of 1844 new accounts were created every year, whereas in the completed years after the redesign (2013-2016) the annual average improved to 3906, an increase of 111%. Although a randomized design was not possible in this instance, these preintervention and postintervention data suggest that the focus on user experience is an effective strategy for improving web-based research recruitment platforms.

Ethics and Privacy Implications of Using the Internet and Social Media to Recruit Participants for Health Research: A Privacy-by-Design Framework for Online Recruitment.

BackgroundThe Internet and social media offer promising ways to improve the reach, efficiency, and effectiveness of recruitment efforts at a reasonable cost, but raise unique ethical dilemmas. We describe how we used social media to recruit cancer patients and family caregivers for a research study, the ethical issues we encountered, and the strategies we developed to address them.ObjectiveDrawing on the principles of Privacy by Design (PbD), a globally recognized standard for privacy protection, we aimed to develop a PbD framework for online health research recruitment.MethodsWe proposed a focus group study on the dietary behaviors of cancer patients and their families, and the role of Web-based dietary self-management tools. Using an established blog on our hospital website, we proposed publishing a recruitment post and sharing the link on our Twitter and Facebook pages. The Research Ethics Board (REB) raised concern about the privacy risks associated with our recruitment strategy; by clicking on a recruitment post, an individual could inadvertently disclose personal health information to third-party companies engaged in tracking online behavior. The REB asked us to revise our social media recruitment strategy with the following questions in mind: (1) How will you inform users about the potential for privacy breaches and their implications? and (2) How will you protect users from privacy breaches or inadvertently sharing potentially identifying information about themselves?ResultsEthical guidelines recommend a proportionate approach to ethics assessment, which advocates for risk mitigation strategies that are proportional to the magnitude and probability of risks. We revised our social media recruitment strategy to inform users about privacy risks and to protect their privacy, while at the same time meeting our recruitment objectives. We provide a critical reflection of the perceived privacy risks associated with our social media recruitment strategy and the appropriateness of the risk mitigation strategies that we employed by assessing their alignment with PbD and by discussing the following: (1) What are the potential risks and who is at risk? (2) Is cancer considered “sensitive” personal information? (3) What is the probability of online disclosure of a cancer diagnosis in everyday life? and (4) What are the public’s expectations for privacy online and their views about online tracking, profiling, and targeting? We conclude with a PbD framework for online health research recruitment.ConclusionsResearchers, REBs, ethicists, students, and potential study participants are often unaware of the privacy risks of social media research recruitment and there is no official guidance. Our PbD framework for online health research recruitment is a resource for these wide audiences.

Cohort profile: the Scottish Research register SHARE. A register of people interested in research participation linked to NHS data sets

PurposeRecruitment to trials is often difficult. Many trials fail to meet recruitment targets resulting in underpowered studies which waste resources and the time of those who participated. While there is...

Can I get a retweet please? Health research recruitment and the Twittersphere

To evaluate the social networking site Twitter™ as a vehicle for recruitment in online health research and to examine how the Twitter community would share information: the focus of our study was the antenatal experience of mothers of advanced maternal age. One result of growth in worldwide Internet and mobile phone usage is the increased ability to source health information online and to use social media sites including Facebook and Twitter. Although social media have been used in previous health research, there is a lack of literature on the use of Twitter in health research. A cross-sectional survey. We report a novel recruitment method via a social networking site between May and August 2012. Through a Twitter account, we tweeted and requested other Twitter users to retweet our invitation to be involved in the study. Tweets contained a unique URL directing participants to an online survey hosted on the Survey Monkey™ website. Over 11weeks, 749 original tweets were posted by the researcher. A total of 529 mothers accessed the survey as a result of 359 researcher tweets and subsequent retweets that were seen by Twitter users. The survey was fully completed by 299 (56·5%) participants. Twitter is a cost-effective means of recruitment, enabling engagement with potentially difficult-to-reach populations, providing participants with transparency, anonymity and a more accessible method by which to participate in health research.