Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Nov 17, 2021
Date Accepted: Mar 16, 2022
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
#GeneticTesting: Using Social Media to Facilitate Communication about testing to Women
ABSTRACT
Background:
Strong participant recruitment practices are critical to public health research, but are difficult to achieve. Traditional recruitment practices are often time-consuming, costly, and fail to adequately target difficult to reach populations. Social media platforms like Facebook are well positioned to address this area of need, enabling researchers to leverage existing social networks and deliver targeted information. The MAGENTA study aimed to improve availability of genetic testing for hereditary cancer susceptibility to at risk individuals though the use of an online genetic testing service.
Objective:
Evaluate the effectiveness of Facebook as an effective outreach tool for targeting women 30 years old and up, for recruitment into the MAGENTA (Making Genetic Testing Accessible) Study.
Methods:
Designed and implemented paid and unpaid social media posts, with ongoing assessment, as a primary means of research participant recruitment in collaboration with patient advocates. Facebook analytics were used to assess efficacy of paid and unpaid outreach efforts.
Results:
Over the course of the reported recruitment period, Facebook materials had a reach of 407,769 and 57,248 instances of engagement, indicating that around 14% of people who saw information about the study over Facebook engaged with content. Paid advertisements had a total reach of 373,682. Among those reached, just under 15% engaged with page content (n=54,117). Unpaid posts published to the MAGENTA Facebook page resulted in a total of 34,087 reach and 3,131 instances of engagement. Women 65 years+ reported the best response rate, with nearly 44% of reaches translating to engagement. Among the subjects who completed the eligibility questionnaire, 27% had heard about the study through social media or another web page.
Conclusions:
Facebook is a useful way to enhance clinical trial recruitment of women over the age of 30, who have a potentially increased risk for ovarian cancer, by promoting news stories over social media, collaborating with patient advocacy groups, and running paid and unpaid campaigns. Clinical Trial: NCT02993068
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