Revising Recruitment for Focus Groups to Meet Shifting Needs During COVID-19

Abstract

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic forced researchers to modify recruitment strategies to meet accrual goals for qualitative studies. Traditional methods of in-person recruiting and using paper marketing material were eliminated almost overnight at the onset of the pandemic. Researchers quickly adapted their recruitment strategies, but researchers had to shift local, in-person recruitment efforts to solely using online platforms. The shifting recruitment strategies were accompanied with unexpected challenges, but we were able to meet our accrual goal for focus groups.ObjectivesThe objective of this brief report is to explore new recruitment strategies that developed during the COVID-19 pandemic and offer suggestions for future online-based qualitative studies.ResultsPrior to COVID-19, we designed four main strategies (research registry, marketing material, social media, and provider endorsement) to recruit potential participants for focus groups as part of a qualitative, descriptive study involving young women breast cancer survivors. After the onset of COVID-19, we successfully adapted each of our initial four strategies to recruit potential participants in an incremental process. Using these adapted strategies, a total of 62 young women completed the first part of the data collection process prior to participating in a focus group. Thirty-three women participated in the focus groups, and the remaining 29 participants were lost to follow-up. The vast majority of participants were recruited through marketing material and social media after making strategic changes to recruitment.DiscussionThe most effective method of recruitment was the strategic use of marketing material and social media, and we offer suggestions for researchers considering online recruitment methods. We recommend that researchers use various social media platforms and specific hashtags and target their sample population at the onset of the study. The data collection changes initiated by the effects of COVID-19 may remain, and researchers can consider implementing permanent recruitment strategies to best meet the needs of this new landscape of conducing online focus groups.

Participant recruitment for paediatric research using social media: A practical ‘how‐to’ guide for researchers

“…Engaging a leader or expert with a pre‐existing online presence, specialised knowledge, authority or insight among the target audience may be a useful complementary advertising strategy 53 . Credible community leaders or healthcare professionals can create trust in the research while disseminating the details of the project 20,54 . Elliott et al 20 observed that collaborating with a parent who understood the nature of the research and the target community created interconnectedness and increased the perceived credibility of the campaign.…”

“… 53 Credible community leaders or healthcare professionals can create trust in the research while disseminating the details of the project. 20 , 54 Elliott et al 20 observed that collaborating with a parent who understood the nature of the research and the target community created interconnectedness and increased the perceived credibility of the campaign. We often engage healthcare professionals to share the details of a research project with their existing online networks.…”

Going virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic: adaptation of a mixed-methods dietary behavior study within a community-based participatory research study of African-American adults at risk for cardiovascular disease

“…This continuity likely assisted our ability to recruit participants for a virtual study. Others have reported that recruitment for a virtual or remote study during the pandemic may be hampered by the lack of prior face-to-face contact [ 21 ] or require a potential shift to social media based recruitment [ 29 ]. Another strength was our institutional health informatics infrastructure which facilitated key elements of the transition to the virtual platform including electronic consent and secure videoconferencing software access.…”

“We’re Not Going to Be as Prepared”: A Qualitative Study of Healthcare Trainees’ Experiences after One Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…However, the pandemic shifted research recruitment approaches to fully remote online platforms. Here, we focused primarily on the use of social media, although this has been identified as a valuable strategy for online recruitment to qualitative research studies [70]. We added a prize-draw incentive to encourage participation, which has been identified as a useful mechanism to increase uptake in research studies [70] and in this instance, helped us to achieve sufficient information power [30].…”