Using the Facebook Advertisement Platform to Recruit Chinese, Korean, and Latinx Cancer Survivors for Psychosocial Research: Web-Based Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: Ethnic minority cancer survivors remain an understudied and underrepresented population in cancer research, in part, due to the challenge of low participant recruitment rates. Therefore, identifying effective recruitment strategies is imperative for reducing cancer health disparities among this population. With the widespread use of social media, health researchers have turned to Facebook as a potential source of recruitment. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of purchasing ads on Facebook to recruit Chinese, Korean, and Latinx cancer survivors residing in the United States. We assessed their experience with participating in a Web-based survey and their interest for future research. METHODS: We showed 5 purchased ads in English, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Korean, and Spanish on Facebook. Participants who clicked on the Facebook ad were directed to the study website and asked to submit their emails to receive the link to the 30-minute Web-based survey. Inclusion criteria included being of Asian or Latinx heritage, age ≥18 years, having a cancer diagnosis, and being within 5 years of cancer treatment. Participants who completed the survey were sent a US $10 Walmart eGiftcard. RESULTS: The Facebook ads were shown for 48 consecutive days for a total spending of US $1200.46 (US $25/day budget). Overall, 11 East Asian and 15 Latinx cancer survivors completed the study, resulting in an average cost per participant of US $46.17. The East Asian and Latinx cancer survivors did not significantly differ in age, years lived in the United States, education level, generation status, and time since diagnosis. However, Latinx cancer survivors were marginally more likely to have limited English proficiency and lower annual income than East Asian cancer survivors. Both Latinx and East Asian cancer survivors reported that they enjoyed participating in this study and indicated an interest in participating in future psychosocial research studies. CONCLUSIONS: The use of Facebook ads successfully resulted in the recruitment of East Asian and Latinx cancer survivors with different cancer diagnoses who reside in various geographic regions of the United States. We found that East Asian and Latinx cancer survivors recruited through Facebook were interested in participating in future psychosocial research, thereby providing support for the feasibility and effectiveness of using Facebook as a source of recruitment for ethnic minority cancer survivors.

Educación para la salud: perspectivas y experiencias de educación superior en ciencias de la salud, Medellín, Colombia / Education for health: perspectives and experiences in higher education in health sciences, Medellin, Colombia

Objetivos: conocer la situación actual de la educación para la salud (EPS) en algunas instituciones de educación superior de la ciudad de Medellín, Colombia que tienen programas de formación en salud. Adicionalmente, promover espacios de reflexión académica entre los profesores interesados en la temática de EPS. Metodología: se realizó una investigación con enfoque cualitativo a partir de un estudio de caso colectivo. Se tomaron como casos algunos programas de formación superior en ciencias de la salud de la ciudad, empleando técnicas etnográficas, como entrevistas individuales y grupales. Resultados: la situación actual de la EPS enfrenta una situación contradictoria: por un lado, se resalta la importancia que debería tener y por otro, se evidencia un incipiente desarrollo. Además, la EPS posee una identidad traslapada, razón por la cual se confunde con campos, disciplinas, programas y actividades en salud. Se presenta tensión entre concepciones sobre la EPS orientadas al cambio de comportamiento, basadas en modelos pedagógicos tradicionales, con propuestas alternativas centradas en el desarrollo humano. Se encontró un desarrollo curricular dispar entre las diferentes instituciones. Finalmente, se evidenció un pobre desarrollo de la investigación en EPS. Conclusiones: la EPS es una dimensión importante de la salud pública, percepción que entra en contradicción con la poca importancia y el desarrollo incipiente en este campo y la preeminencia de una educación tradicional en EPS. Un modelo biomédico morbicéntico predominante en la educación de los profesionales de las ciencias de la salud y un pobre desarrollo pedagógico en el área contribuyen en la explicación de estos hallazgos.

Objectives: to know the current panorama of education for health (EFH) in some institutions of higher education that train health professionals in Medellin, Colombia, and furthermore, to promote academic discussions among professionals who are interested in EFH. Methodology: a qualitative research based on a multiple case study was conducted taking into account the specific cases of some higher education programs in health sciences in Medellin. Ethnographic techniques including individual and group interviews were utilized. Results: EFH is currently facing quite a contradictory situation: first of all, its importance is highlighted but on the other hand, evidences suggest a limited development. Moreover, the EFH has an overlapping identity as it is mistaken for other fields, disciplines, programs and some other different kinds of health activities. A tension between conceptions of EFH aimed to behavior change based on traditional pedagogical models and other alternative points of view more focused in human development is identified. An uneven curriculum development was also found when different institutions were compared. Finally, poor research development was pointed out in EFH. Conclusions: EFH represents an important dimension of public health which becomes contradictory with the incipient development of this field and the prevailing traditional models of EFH as it is evidenced in this research. A predominant biomedical model focused in morbidity which is primarily present in the educational programs training health professionals and a poorly developed pedagogical approach in this field support the understanding of these findings.