Rait Michelle A, Prochaska Judith J, Rubinstein Mark L
Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 245, San Francisco, CA 94118 USA.
Stanford Prevention Research Center, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA USA.
Transl Behav Med. 2015 Sep;5(3):254-9. doi: 10.1007/s13142-015-0312-5.
Engaging and retaining adolescents in research studies is challenging. Social media offers utility for expanding the sphere of research recruitment. This study examined and compared traditional and Facebook-based recruitment strategies on reach, enrollment, cost, and retention. Substance users aged 13-17 years were recruited through several methods, including social media, a study website, fliers, talks in schools, bus ads, and referrals. Study involvement included a one-time visit and semiannual follow-up surveys. 1265 individuals contacted study personnel; 629 were ineligible; 129 declined; and 200 participants enrolled. Facebook drew the greatest volume but had a high rate of ineligibles. Referrals were the most successful and cost-effective ($7 per enrolled participant); school talks were the least. Recruitment source was unrelated to retention success. Facebook may expand recruitment reach, but had greater financial costs and more ineligible contacts, resulting in fewer enrollees relative to traditional interpersonal recruitment methods. Referrals, though useful for study engagement, did not provide a differential benefit in terms of long-term retention.
让青少年参与并持续参与研究具有挑战性。社交媒体为扩大研究招募范围提供了便利。本研究考察并比较了传统招募策略和基于脸书的招募策略在覆盖范围、招募人数、成本和留存率方面的情况。通过多种方法招募13至17岁的物质使用者，包括社交媒体、研究网站、传单、学校讲座、公交广告和推荐。研究参与包括一次到访和半年一次的随访调查。1265人联系了研究人员；629人不符合条件；129人拒绝参与；200名参与者登记入组。脸书吸引的人数最多，但不符合条件的比例很高。推荐是最成功且最具成本效益的（每位登记入组参与者7美元）；学校讲座的成本效益最低。招募来源与留存成功与否无关。脸书可能会扩大招募范围，但财务成本更高，不符合条件的联系人更多，相对于传统的人际招募方法，登记入组的人数更少。推荐虽然有助于研究参与，但在长期留存方面并没有带来差异化的益处。
