Journal Article

Using Online Social Media for Recruitment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Positive Participants: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Yuan, Patrick, Johnson, Mallory O, Saberi, Parya, Bare, Michael G

2014

Overview

There are many challenges in recruiting and engaging participants when conducting research, especially with HIV-positive individuals. Some of these challenges include geographical barriers, insufficient time and financial resources, and perceived HIV-related stigma. This paper describes the methodology of a recruitment approach that capitalized on existing online social media venues and other Internet resources in an attempt to overcome some of these barriers to research recruitment and retention. From May through August 2013, a campaign approach using a combination of online social media, non-financial incentives, and Web-based survey software was implemented to advertise, recruit, and retain participants, and collect data for a survey study with a limited budget. Approximately US $5,000 was spent with a research staff designated at 20% of full-time effort, yielding 2034 survey clicks, 1404 of which met the inclusion criteria and initiated the survey, for an average cost of US $3.56 per survey initiation. A total of 1221 individuals completed the survey, yielding 86.97% retention. These data indicate that online recruitment is a feasible and efficient tool that can be further enhanced by sophisticated online data collection software and the addition of non-financial incentives.

• Publisher: Journal of Medical Internet Research,Gunther Eysenbach MD MPH, Associate Professor,JMIR Publications Inc,JMIR Publications
• Subject: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome / Advertisements / AIDS / Averages / Campaigns / Clinical trials / Community / Computer based / Cross-Sectional Studies / Data collection / Data Collection - economics / Data Collection - methods / Data entry / Discrimination against AIDS virus carriers / Economic incentives / Employment services / Female / Financial incentives / HIV / HIV (Viruses) / HIV Seropositivity / Human immunodeficiency virus / Humans / Immune disorders / Incentives / Initiation / Internet / Male / Mass media / Methodology / Monetary incentives / Online services / Original Paper / Participation / Patient compliance / Patient Selection / Polls & surveys / Recruitment / Response rates / Social Media / Social networks / Software / Stigma / Substance abuse / Surveys