Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: Jun 29, 2021
Date Accepted: Aug 28, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Dec 2, 2021
Comparing social media and in-person recruitment: lessons learned from recruiting substance-using, sexual and gender minority adolescents and young adults for a randomized control trial
ABSTRACT
Background:
Recruiting large samples of diverse YMSM into HIV intervention research is critical to the development and later dissemination of interventions that address these risk factors for HIV transmission among substance-using, sexual and gender minority adolescents and young adults (AYAs).
Objective:
Our objective was to describe the lessons learned from recruiting young, substance-using sexual and gender minority AYAs.
Methods:
Using data from a randomized control trial of a HIV and substance use intervention for sexual and gender minority AYAs, ages 15-29 in southeastern Michigan (N=414), we examine demographic and behavioral characteristics associated with successful recruitment from a range of virtual and physical venues.
Results:
We found that paid advertisements on Facebook, Instagram, and Grindr offered the largest quantity of eligible participants willing to enroll in the trial. Instagram offered the largest proportion of transgender masculine participants, and Grindr offered the largest proportion of Black/Afrrican American individuals. Although we attempted venue-based recruitment at clubs, bars, community centers, and ASOs, we found it to be unsuccessful for this specific hardly reached population. Social media and geo-based dating applications offered the largest pool of eligible participants.
Conclusions:
Understanding factors associated with successful recruitment has the potential to inform effective and efficient strategies for HIV prevention research with substance-using sexual and gender AYAs. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02945436; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02945436 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6yFyOK57w).
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