Harrison Anna, Folk Johanna, Rodriguez Christopher, Wallace Amanda, Tolou-Shams Marina
Mental Health Service, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
JMIR Form Res. 2022 Dec 2;6(12):e37609. doi: 10.2196/37609.
Young adults involved in the justice system have high rates of substance use disorders and low rates of treatment engagement. Most justice-involved young adults are supervised in the community-not incarcerated in jail or prison-where they have ongoing access to substances and experience significant barriers to care. When they do engage in treatment, they tend to have worse outcomes than justice-involved adolescents and older adults. Despite the need to develop targeted treatments, there are unique challenges in recruiting this population into clinical research. Digital health technology offers many novel avenues for recruiting justice-involved young adults into clinical research studies and disseminating substance use disorder treatments to justice-involved young adults. Because the vast majority of young adults regularly use one or more social media platforms, social media may offer a cost-effective and efficient way to achieve these goals.
This study aimed to describe the process and feasibility of using social media platforms (Facebook and Reddit) to recruit justice-involved young adults into clinical research. Justice-involved young adults recruited from these platforms completed a survey assessing the acceptability of digital health interventions to address substance use in this population.
Justice-involved young adults (aged 18-24 years) were recruited through paid advertisements placed on Facebook and Reddit. Participants responded to a web-based survey focused on their substance use, treatment use history, and acceptability of various digital health interventions focused on substance use.
A national sample of justice-involved young adults were successfully enrolled and completed the survey (N=131). Participants were racially diverse (8/131, 6.1% American Indian individuals; 27/131, 20.6% Asian individuals; 23/131, 17.6% Black individuals; 26/131, 19.8% Latinx individuals; 8/131, 6.1% Pacific Islander individuals; 49/131, 37.4% White individuals; and 2/131, 1.5% individuals who identified as "other" race and ethnicity). Advertisements were cost-effective (US $0.66 per click on Facebook and US $0.47 per click on Reddit). More than half (72/131, 54.9%) of the participants were on probation or parole in the past year and reported hazardous alcohol (54/131, 51.9%) or drug (66/131, 57.4%) use. Most of the participants (103/131, 78.6%) were not currently participating in substance use treatment. Nearly two-third (82/131, 62.6%) of the participants were willing to participate in one or more hypothetical digital health interventions.
Social media is a feasible and cost-effective method for reaching justice-involved young adults to participate in substance use research trials. With limited budgets, researchers can reach a broad audience, many of whom could benefit from treatment but are not currently engaged in care. Proposed digital health interventions focusing on reducing substance use, such as private Facebook groups, SMS text message-based appointment reminders, and coaching, had high acceptability. Future work will build on these findings to develop substance use treatment interventions for this population.
涉及司法系统的年轻人物质使用障碍发生率高，而治疗参与率低。大多数涉及司法系统的年轻人在社区接受监管，而非被监禁在监狱或看守所，在社区中他们能够持续接触到毒品，且在获得治疗方面存在重大障碍。当他们确实参与治疗时，其治疗效果往往比涉及司法系统的青少年和成年人更差。尽管需要开发针对性的治疗方法，但在将这一人群纳入临床研究方面存在独特的挑战。数字健康技术为将涉及司法系统的年轻人纳入临床研究以及向他们传播物质使用障碍治疗方法提供了许多新途径。由于绝大多数年轻人经常使用一个或多个社交媒体平台，社交媒体可能提供一种经济高效的方式来实现这些目标。
本研究旨在描述使用社交媒体平台（Facebook和Reddit）将涉及司法系统的年轻人纳入临床研究的过程和可行性。从这些平台招募的涉及司法系统的年轻人完成了一项调查，评估数字健康干预措施对解决该人群物质使用问题的可接受性。
通过在Facebook和Reddit上投放付费广告招募涉及司法系统的年轻人（年龄在18 - 24岁之间）。参与者回答了一项基于网络的调查，该调查侧重于他们的物质使用情况、治疗使用史以及各种针对物质使用的数字健康干预措施的可接受性。
成功招募了一个全国性的涉及司法系统的年轻人群体样本并完成了调查（N = 131）。参与者种族多样（8/131，6.1%为美洲印第安人；27/131，20.6%为亚洲人；23/131，17.6%为黑人；26/131，19.8%为拉丁裔；8/131，6.1%为太平洋岛民；49/131，37.4%为白人；2/131，1.5%为其他种族和族裔）。广告成本效益高（Facebook上每次点击0.66美元，Reddit上每次点击0.47美元）。超过一半（72/131，54.9%）的参与者在过去一年处于缓刑或假释期，报告有危险饮酒（54/131，51.9%）或吸毒（66/131，57.4%）情况。大多数参与者（103/131，78.6%）目前未参与物质使用治疗。近三分之二（82/131，62.6%）的参与者愿意参与一项或多项假设的数字健康干预措施。
社交媒体是接触涉及司法系统的年轻人以参与物质使用研究试验的一种可行且经济高效的方法。在预算有限的情况下，研究人员可以接触到广泛的受众，其中许多人可能从治疗中受益，但目前未接受治疗。提议的旨在减少物质使用的数字健康干预措施，如私人Facebook群组、基于短信的预约提醒和辅导，具有较高的可接受性。未来的工作将基于这些发现为该人群开发物质使用治疗干预措施。
