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Recruiting Military Veterans into Alcohol Misuse Research: The Role of Social Media and Facebook Advertising.
Williamson, Charlotte; Rona, Roberto J; Simms, Amos; Fear, Nicola T; Goodwin, Laura; Murphy, Dominic; Leightley, Daniel.
  • Williamson C; King's Centre for Military Health Research, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Rona RJ; King's Centre for Military Health Research, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Simms A; Academic Department of Military Mental Health, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Fear NT; British Army, London, United Kingdom.
  • Goodwin L; King's Centre for Military Health Research, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Murphy D; Academic Department of Military Mental Health, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
  • Leightley D; Spectrum Centre for Mental Health Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom.
Telemed J E Health ; 2022 May 11.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2246344
ABSTRACT

Background:

The use of digital technology within health care service delivery, monitoring, and research is becoming progressively popular, particularly given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Mobile health (m-health) apps, one form of digital technology, are increasingly being used to promote positive health related behavior change. Therefore, it is important to conduct research to understand the efficacy of m-health apps. The process of participant recruitment is an essential component in producing strong research evidence, along with ensuring an adequately powered sample to conduct meaningful analyses and draw robust conclusions.

Methods:

In this work we outline and reflect on the strategies used to recruit help-seeking military veterans into an intervention study, which aimed to evaluate the efficacy of an app (DrinksRation) to modify behavior in alcohol misusers. Recruitment strategies included through (1) partner organizations and (2) social media and Facebook advertising (ads).

Results:

Facebook ads were live for a period of 88 days and were viewed by a total audience of 29,416 people. In total 168 military veterans were recruited across all recruitment strategies, meaning that DrinksRation exceeded its recruitment targets. Half of the sample (n = 84) were recruited through social media, including Facebook ads.

Conclusions:

The current article highlighted that targeted Facebook ads were an efficient strategy to recruit military veterans into a digital intervention trial aiming to reduce alcohol consumption because they reduced the amount of time and resources required to contact a large number of potentially eligible individuals for our study. This article acts as a starting point for other researchers to evaluate their recruitment pathways for recruiting military veterans into alcohol misuse research.
Keywords

Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Type of study: Experimental Studies / Randomized controlled trials Language: English Journal subject: Medical Informatics / Health Services Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Tmj.2021.0587

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Type of study: Experimental Studies / Randomized controlled trials Language: English Journal subject: Medical Informatics / Health Services Year: 2022 Document Type: Article Affiliation country: Tmj.2021.0587