Overcoming recruitment challenges of web-based interventions for tobacco use: The case of web-based acceptance and commitment therapy for smoking cessation

Heffner, Jaimee L.; Wyszynski, Christopher M.; Comstock, Bryan; Mercer, Laina D.; Bricker, Jonathan B.

doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.05.004

Cited by 60 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Our findings show that to a certain extent it was feasible to use a primary care approach to recruit and consent people who smoke to the study, although recruitment took a long time, and we only recruited 87 % of our target sample size (87/100). There has only been limited previous research into the optimum recruitment of participants to internet-based smoking cessation interventions, with a recent study suggesting the benefit of a combination of offline and online routes [23], and other studies have shown that online only approaches can yield high recruitment [24]. Our questionnaire responses suggest that the eligibility criteria were not always applied correctly: some smokers had already given up, while others had little desire to quit.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

A novel experience-based internet intervention for smoking cessation: feasibility randomised controlled trial

et al. 2016

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BackgroundThe internet is frequently used to share experiences of health and illness, but this phenomenon has not been harnessed as an intervention to achieve health behaviour change. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of a randomised trial assessing the effects of a novel, experience-based website as a smoking cessation intervention. The secondary aim was to measure the potential impact on smoking behaviour of both the intervention and a comparator website.MethodsA feasibility randomised controlled single-blind trial assessed a novel, experience-based website containing personal accounts of quitting smoking as a cessation intervention, and a comparator website providing factual information. Feasibility measures including recruitment, and usage of the interventions were recorded, and the following participant-reported outcomes were also measured: Smoking Abstinence Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, the single-item Motivation to Stop Scale, self-reported abstinence, quit attempts and health status outcomes. Eligible smokers from two English regions were entered into the trial and given access to their allocated website for two weeks.ResultsEighty-seven smokers were randomised, 65 completed follow-up (75 %). Median usage was 15 min for the intervention, and 5 min for the comparator (range 0.5–213 min). Median logins for both sites was 2 (range 1–20). All participant-reported outcomes were similar between groups.ConclusionsIt was technically feasible to deliver a novel intervention harnessing the online sharing of personal experiences as a tool for smoking cessation, but recruitment was slow and actual use was relatively low, with attrition from the trial. Future work needs to maximize engagement and to understand how best to assess the value of such interventions in everyday use, rather than as an isolated ‘dose of information’.Trial registration ISRCTN29549695 DOI 10.1186/ISRCTN29549695. Registered 17/05/2013.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

A novel experience-based internet intervention for smoking cessation: feasibility randomised controlled trial

et al. 2016

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“…Out of 30 studies, 12 studies (40%) reported higher rates of recruitment through social media as compared with any of the other methods used [14-17,26,28,31,32,35, 36,41,42] and 15 studies (50%) reported recruitment via social media to be less effective than at least one other method used [18-21,23-25, 27,33-35,37-40]. Heffner et al [20] and Rabin et al [24] found social media to be the least effective method out of multiple (>2) recruitment methods used. Rabin et al [24] were unable to recruit a single participant via social media.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of Social Media in Recruitment for Medical Research Studies: A Scoping Review

Topolovec-Vranic¹,

Natarajan²

2016

J Med Internet Res

410

328

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BackgroundRecruiting an adequate number of participants into medical research studies is challenging for many researchers. Over the past 10 years, the use of social media websites has increased in the general population. Consequently, social media websites are a new, powerful method for recruiting participants into such studies.ObjectiveThe objective was to answer the following questions: (1) Is the use of social media more effective at research participant recruitment than traditional methods? (2) Does social media recruit a sample of research participants comparable to that recruited via other methods? (3) Is social media more cost-effective at research participant recruitment than traditional methods?MethodsUsing the MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and EMBASE databases, all medical research studies that used social media and at least one other method for recruitment were identified. These studies were then categorized as either interventional studies or observational studies. For each study, the effectiveness of recruitment, demographic characteristics of the participants, and cost-effectiveness of recruitment using social media were evaluated and compared with that of the other methods used. The social media sites used in recruitment were identified, and if a study stated that the target population was “difficult to reach” as identified by the authors of the study, this was noted.ResultsOut of 30 studies, 12 found social media to be the most effective recruitment method, 15 did not, and 3 found social media to be equally effective as another recruitment method. Of the 12 studies that found social media to be the best recruitment method, 8 were observational studies while 4 were interventional studies. Of the 15 studies that did not find social media to be the best recruitment method, 7 were interventional studies while 8 were observational studies. In total, 8 studies stated that the target population was “hard-to-reach,” and 6 of these studies found social media to be the most effective recruitment method. Out of 14 studies that reported demographic data for participants, 2 studies found that social media recruited a sample comparable to that recruited via traditional methods and 12 did not. Out of 13 studies that reported cost-effectiveness, 5 studies found social media to be the most cost-effective recruitment method, 7 did not, and 1 study found social media equally cost-effective as compared with other methods.ConclusionsOnly 12 studies out of 30 found social media to be the most effective recruitment method. There is evidence that social media can be the best recruitment method for hard-to-reach populations and observational studies. With only 30 studies having compared recruitment through social media with other methods, more studies need to be done that report the effectiveness of recruitment for each strategy, demographics of participants recruited, and cost-effectiveness of each method.

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“…Based on prior success in national recruitment for a web-delivered trial (Heffner et al, 2013), we used both web-based and traditional methods of recruitment. Recruitment sources were: 39% from Facebook ads, 38% from press-release generated media (13% TV, 10% radio, 8% websites, 7% newspaper), and 23% from other sources (7% Google ads, 5% search engine results, 4% fhcrc.org, 7% other).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Randomized, controlled pilot trial of a smartphone app for smoking cessation using acceptance and commitment therapy

Bricker

Mull

Kientz

et al. 2014

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Self Cite

340

351

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Background There is a dual need for (1) innovative theory-based smartphone applications for smoking cessation and (2) controlled trials to evaluate their efficacy. Accordingly, this study tested the feasibility, acceptability, preliminary efficacy, and mechanism of behavioral change of an innovative smartphone-delivered Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) application for smoking cessation versus an application following US Clinical Practice Guidelines. Method Adult participants were recruited nationally into the double-blind randomized controlled pilot trial (N = 196) that compared smartphone-delivered ACT for smoking cessation application (SmartQuit) with the National Cancer Institute's application for smoking cessation (QuitGuide). Results We recruited 196 participants in two months. SmartQuit participants opened their application an average of 37.2 times, as compared to 15.2 times for QuitGuide participants (p <.0001). The overall quit rates were 13% in SmartQuit vs. 8% in QuitGuide (OR=2.7; 95% CI=0.8-10.3). Consistent with ACT's theory of change, among those scoring low (below the median) on acceptance of cravings at baseline (n = 88), the quit rates were 15% in SmartQuit vs. 8% in QuitGuide (OR=2.9; 95% CI=0.6-20.7). Conclusions ACT is feasible to deliver by smartphone application and shows higher engagement and promising quit rates compared to an application that follows US Clinical Practice Guidelines. As results were limited by the pilot design (e.g., small sample), a full-scale efficacy trial is now needed.

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Overcoming recruitment challenges of web-based interventions for tobacco use: The case of web-based acceptance and commitment therapy for smoking cessation

Cited by 60 publications

References 11 publications

A novel experience-based internet intervention for smoking cessation: feasibility randomised controlled trial

A novel experience-based internet intervention for smoking cessation: feasibility randomised controlled trial

The Use of Social Media in Recruitment for Medical Research Studies: A Scoping Review

Randomized, controlled pilot trial of a smartphone app for smoking cessation using acceptance and commitment therapy

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