The Use of Social Media to Recruit Participants With Rare Conditions: Lynch Syndrome as an Example

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ID: 120051
2017
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Abstract
Background: Social media is increasingly being used as a means of recruiting participants, particularly for investigators whose areas of interest involve rare conditions or hard-to-reach populations. However, much of the literature to date has focused on paid advertisement recruitment. Objective: We used Lynch syndrome (LS), a rare hereditary cancer syndrome, as a model to demonstrate the successful partnership between researchers and a Web-based patient education and advocacy organization to facilitate participant recruitment. Methods: Recruitment was undertaken in partnership with Lynch Syndrome International (LSI), an advocacy organization with a strong social media presence. After LSI published our study information, participants followed up via email or phone call. Following prescreening and consent, interested and eligible participants were then sent a secure survey link. Results: Within 36 hours of a single Facebook post by the site administrators for LSI, over 150 individuals responded via phone or email. Sixty-five individuals were sent the survey link and 57 individuals completed the survey (88% response rate). Of note, these 57 individuals were geographically diverse within the Unites States, representing LS patients from 26 different states. Conclusions: This approach has several advantages, including recruitment through a trusted source outside of a clinical setting, higher response rates, and cost-effectiveness with a small research team in a relatively short amount of time. Overall, social media recruitment with a trusted online partner can be highly effective in hard-to-reach clinical populations, such as patients with LS. However, this approach requires additional effort for eligibility screening. [JMIR Res Protoc 2017;6(1):e12]
Reference Key
bruzzone2017jmirthe Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Linda L Bruzzone;
Journal jmir research protocols
Year 2017
DOI
doi:10.2196/resprot.6066
URL
http://doi.org/10.2196/resprot.6066
Keywords
data collection lynch syndrome protocols Publication journal open access publish grant proposals formative research early results randomized trial registrysocial media recruitment participation rates response rates

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