Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Feb 26, 2020
Date Accepted: May 14, 2020
Recruiting and Retaining Youth and Young Adults in Online Longitudinal Research: Lessons from a Randomized Trial of Participant Compensation in the PACE Vermont Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
The standard approach to evaluating the effects of population-level substance use prevention efforts on youth and young adult perceptions and behavior has been to compare outcomes across states using national surveillance data. Novel surveillance methods that follow individuals over shorter time intervals and capture awareness of substance use prevention policy and communication efforts may provide a stronger basis for their evaluation than annual cross-sectional studies.
Objective:
To identify a combination of strategies to recruit a sample of youth and young adults sufficiently representative of the Vermont population and determine how best to retain an online panel of youth and young adults over a six-month period.
Methods:
Eligible participants were Vermont residents aged 12-25 who were willing to complete three 10-15 minute online surveys over a six-month period. Recruitment was conducted via three main mechanisms: (1) online recruitment (paid and unpaid), (2) community-based recruitment through partners, and (3) participant referrals via a personalized link. Upon completion of the baseline survey, participants were randomly assigned to one of the three retention incentive conditions: (1) Guaranteed incentive ($10), (2) Lottery incentive ($50 weekly lottery drawing) or (3) Preferred method (guaranteed or lottery). Analyses examined cost per survey start by recruitment source, distribution of demographic characteristics across incentive conditions, and retention by study condition at three-month and six-month follow-up.
Results:
Over a 10-week period in 2019, we recruited 480 eligible youth (aged 12-17) and 1037 eligible young adults (aged 18-25) to the Policy and Communication Evaluation (PACE) Vermont Study. Facebook and Instagram advertising produced the greatest number of survey starts (n=2,013), followed by posts to a statewide online neighborhood forum (n = 822) and Google ads (n = 749). Retention at three months was 78.11% (1185/1517) and 72.18% (1095/1517) at six months. Retention was equivalent across all incentive study conditions at both waves, despite a strong stated preference among study participants for the guaranteed payment at baseline. Youth participants had greater retention than young adult participants at both waves (Wave 2: 82.3%, 395/480 vs. 76.18%, 790/1037; Wave 3: 76.3%, 366/480 vs. 70.30%, 729/1037). Substance use prevalence in this cohort was similar to national and state-level surveillance estimates for young adults, though lower than state-level surveillance estimates for youth. Most participants retained at Wave 3 provided positive qualitative feedback on their experience of the study.
Conclusions:
Our study supports the feasibility of recruiting an online cohort of youth and young adults with representation across an entire state to evaluate substance use prevention efforts. Findings suggest that a guaranteed payment immediately upon survey completion, coupled with a bonus for completing all survey waves and weekly survey reminders may facilitate retention in a cohort of youth and young adults.
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