Facebook Advertising to Recruit Young, Urban Women into an HIV Prevention Clinical Trial

Abstract

Advertising via Facebook to elicit involvement in clinical trials has demonstrated promise in expanding geographic reach while maintaining confidentiality. The purpose of this study is to evaluate Facebook advertising to reach at-risk, predominately African American or Black women in higher HIV prevalence communities for an HIV prevention clinical trial, and to compare baseline characteristics to those recruited on-the-ground. Maintaining confidentiality and the practical aspects of creating and posting ads on Facebook are described. The advertising strategy targeted multicultural affinities, gender, age, interest terms, and zip codes. We report on results during 205 days. A total of 516, 498 Facebook users viewed the ads an average of four times, resulting in 37,133 clicks to the study website. Compared to 495 screened on-the-ground, 940 were screened via Facebook ads, of these, half (n =477, 50.74%) were high risk, and of those at risk, 154 were randomized into the 6-month clinical trial. Black women comprised 71.60% (n=673) of the total screened online. Roughly twice as many Black women screened via Facebook compared to on-the-ground, yet, the percentage at high risk was similar. Preliminary data suggest that the extent to which ad headlines and photos tap into authentic social experience, advertising on Facebook can extend geographic reach and provide a comparative sample to women recruited on-the-ground.

Engaging patients throughout the health system: A landscape analysis of cold-call policies and recommendations for future policy change

“…Given the capacity to reach potential subjects, some researchers have successfully utilized Facebook for research advertisement. Through the use of filters (zip codes, gender, age, ethnicity) and interest terms, Facebook allows targeted outreach to certain populations [40][41][42][43][44][45]. Facebook can also adapt to preferences based on search history.…”

“…The same technology that allows for tracking patient preferences creates the potential for loss of confidentiality and public exposure of potentially stigmatizing diagnoses or participant status. Communication between research participants can compromise trial design, and lack of face to face contact creates potential for patient misrepresentation [40]. Clearly, healthcare delivery and the interactions between patients and health systems have changed.…”

Using Facebook for Large-Scale Online Randomized Clinical Trial Recruitment: Effective Advertising Strategies

“…To date, most of the studies reporting the use of Facebook recruitment have been surveys [ 9 - 17 ] or modest-sized randomized clinical trials (RCTs) [ 18 - 20 ] and pilot studies [ 21 ]. Facebook can also be used to recruit participants for larger-scale RCTs [ 22 , 23 ], but this requires careful planning and oversight to ensure the optimal use of funds allocated for recruitment.…”

Recruitment of US Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA) into Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)–Related Behavioral Research Studies: A Scoping Review

“…Study Purpose When categorizing studies as per the national HIV initiative to end the HIV epidemic (HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and outbreak response), five recruited participants for HIV prevention [11,[23][24][25][26][27]. Rapid HIV testing [25] and antiretroviral (ARV) adherence support for HIV treatment regimens [28] represented additional study goals.…”