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Participant recruitment for paediatric research using social media: A practical 'how-to' guide for researchers
Sarah Lang1, Kaitlin Day1,2, Emma Gallaher3
1Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Notting Hill, Australia.
Insights
This study presents a six-phase social media recruitment strategy for pediatric health research. This approach aims to enhance community engagement and participation in studies for improving young people's health.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Digital Health
- Pediatric Research
Background:
- Social media is increasingly utilized for recruiting participants in pediatric health research.
- Leveraging social media can broaden research reach beyond traditional methods.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a structured, multi-phase approach for using social media as a recruitment strategy in pediatric health research.
- To provide a framework for effective and ethical social media recruitment in this field.
Main Methods:
- Iterative development of a recruitment process informed by prior experience and social media marketing expertise.
- A narrative literature review was conducted to refine and finalize the proposed recruitment strategy.
Main Results:
- A six-phase recruitment approach was developed: planning, ethical considerations, audience/strategy identification, content development, implementation/monitoring, and evaluation.
- Each phase includes specific activities and considerations tailored for pediatric research, emphasizing ethical management for vulnerable groups.
Conclusions:
- Social media offers significant potential to disseminate research opportunities to diverse community members.
- Collaboration with communication experts and target audiences, alongside robust ethical protocols, is crucial for successful social media recruitment in pediatric health research.
Aim:
Social media platforms are being increasingly used to support participant recruitment into paediatric health-related research. This study aimed to develop a multi-phase approach for using social media as a recruitment strategy for paediatric research studies.
Methods:
The process was informed by the authors' prior experiences recruiting for paediatric obesity-related research studies, expertise in social media marketing and digital participant/ patient recruitment. Reflection on these experiences resulted in the iterative creation of a draft process which was further refined. A narrative literature review using a structured search was conducted to refine and augment the content and finalise the process.
Results:
A six-phase recruitment approach was developed that includes: (i) plan for social media use as a recruitment strategy, (ii) explore relevant ethical considerations to protect the wellbeing of potentially vulnerable groups and create an ethical management plan, (iii) identify and understand the different target audiences and develop the advertising strategy, (iv) develop and design campaign content, (v) implement, monitor and iteratively refine the recruitment campaign, (vi) evaluate the campaign success. Potential activities and key considerations relevant for paediatric research are presented within each phase.
Conclusion:
Due to the widespread use and diverse characteristics of social media users, social media has the potential to disseminate details of research opportunities to community members who may otherwise not hear about, engage with, and potentially benefit from research participation. Researchers should collaborate with communication experts and target audiences to generate relevant and effective recruitment campaigns. Researchers should implement processes to protect vulnerable audiences' wellbeing at each stage of the process. Recruitment via social media may support wider community participation in research studies designed to improve young people's health.
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