STEM Translational Communication Center, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
Clinical Translational Science Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
J Med Internet Res. 2021 Oct 8;23(10):e23312. doi: 10.2196/23312.
Limited regulatory guidance surrounding the use of social media channels for participant recruitment is an interdisciplinary challenge. Establishing stakeholder-informed procedures is essential for ethical and effective use of social media for participant recruitment.
This study aims to provide replicable procedures for developing and implementing guidelines for using social media to recruit participants in research studies.
Social media use cases at the university were used to identify institutional stakeholders for the initiative. After establishing workflow procedures, a scoping review of web-based materials about recruitment and research on the internet and social media from 19 peer institutions and 2 federal agencies was conducted to inform the structure of the policies and procedures. End users (investigators and study coordinators; N=14) also provided feedback on the policies and procedures and implementation.
Representatives (n=7) from 5 institutional offices and 15 subject-matter experts from 5 areas were identified as stakeholders in the development of policies and procedures. Peers with web-based materials (n=16) identified in the scoping review revealed 4 themes that served as a basis for developing our policies and procedures. End user feedback further informed the policies and procedures and implementation. A centrally managed social media account for communicating with participants and hosting advertising campaigns on social media was also established and, when combined with the policies and procedures, resulted in 39 advertising campaigns, and 2846 participants were enrolled in health and clinical research studies.
Our policies and procedures allow research teams to harness the potential of social media to increase study recruitment and participation; the transparent, stakeholder-informed process can be replicated by institutional administrators to establish policies and procedures that meet the interests and needs of their research community.
社交媒体渠道在参与者招募方面的使用受到有限监管指导，这是一个跨学科的挑战。制定以利益相关者为导向的程序对于社交媒体在参与者招募方面的伦理和有效使用至关重要。
本研究旨在为制定和实施使用社交媒体招募研究参与者的指南提供可复制的程序。
利用大学的社交媒体使用案例来确定该倡议的机构利益相关者。在建立工作流程程序之后，对来自 19 个同行机构和 2 个联邦机构的互联网和社交媒体上的招募和研究的在线网络材料进行了范围综述，以告知政策和程序的结构。最终用户（调查员和研究协调员；N=14）也对政策和程序以及实施提供了反馈。
确定了 5 个机构办公室的代表（n=7）和 5 个领域的 15 名主题专家作为政策和程序制定的利益相关者。在范围综述中确定的具有网络材料的同行（n=16）确定了 4 个主题，这些主题为制定我们的政策和程序提供了基础。最终用户的反馈进一步完善了政策和程序，并实施了一个集中管理的社交媒体账户，用于与参与者沟通和在社交媒体上进行广告宣传活动。该账户与政策和程序相结合，共发起了 39 次广告宣传活动，有 2846 名参与者参加了健康和临床研究。
我们的政策和程序允许研究团队利用社交媒体的潜力来增加研究的招募和参与；透明、以利益相关者为导向的流程可以被机构管理人员复制，以制定符合其研究社区利益和需求的政策和程序。
