JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Population-based surveys can help health researchers better understand the public’s perspectives and needs with respect to highly prevalent conditions such as osteoporosis, which affects more than two thirds of postmenopausal women. However, recruitment for population-based research can be time-consuming and expensive. With 2.9 billion active users across the globe and reasonable advertising costs, Facebook has emerged as an effective recruitment tool for population-based research, although previous studies have targeted relatively young populations (<50 years of age) and none have focused on bone health and osteoporosis.

Objective:

We aimed to assess the feasibility, effectiveness and cost of using Facebook to recruit Canadian women aged ≥45 years to share their perspectives on bone health and osteoporosis via an online survey.

Methods:

We developed a 15-minute online survey with the goal of eliciting respondents’ perspectives on bone health and osteoporosis. A Facebook advertisement was placed for two weeks in February 2022, during which time it was shown to women age ≥45 who resided in Canada, inviting them to participate in the survey and offering the chance to win one of five CAD $100 gift cards. Those who clicked on the advertisement were taken to the survey home screen, which contained an eligibility screening question. Individuals who answered this question confirming eligibility were automatically directed to the first survey question. All individuals who answered the first survey question were considered survey respondents and included in analyses. We determined the survey reach, click rate, response rate, completion rate, cost per click, and cost per respondent. Where possible, sociodemographic characteristics of respondents were compared with data from the 2021 Canadian Census to assess representativeness.

Results:

The Facebook advertisement was shown to 34,086 unique Facebook users, resulting in 2033 link clicks (click rate: 6.0%). A total of 1320 individuals completed the eligibility screening question, 1195 started the survey itself (response rate: 58.8%), and 966 completed the survey (completion rate: 80.8%). The cost of the advertising campaign was CAD $280.12, resulting in a cost per click of CAD $0.14 and a cost per respondent of CAD $0.23. The 1195 respondents ranged in age from 45-89 years (mean: 65 years), 93.7% were of White ethnicity, 88.3% had completed some post-secondary education, and 65.8% resided in urban areas. All ten Canadian provinces and two of three territories were represented. When compared to 2021Canadian Census data, post-secondary education, and rural residence were overrepresented in our study population.

Conclusions:

Facebook advertising is an efficient, effective, and inexpensive way of recruiting Canadian women age ≥45 for participation in online surveys. However, focusing solely on this mode of recruitment may lead to overrepresentation of some sociodemographic groups.