P6.5 EFFECTIVENESS OF FACEBOOK FOR PARTICIPANT RECRUITMENT INTO A BLOOD PRESSURE RANDOMISED CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIAL
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- 10.1016/j.artres.2015.10.289How to use a DOI?
- Abstract
Background: The cost of conventional advertising to recruit participants for clinical trials is expensive and can be ineffective. Social media may be a useful tool to improve participant recruitment. This study evaluated the use of Facebook advertising to recruit participants into a clinical trial.
Methods: Conventional advertisements (newspaper, radio, posters in doctors clinics) were employed for the first 20 months of a clinical trial conducted in the Australian capital cities of Hobart, Brisbane and Canberra. With dwindling participant recruitment, a Facebook advertising campaign, targeting 18 to 69 year olds currently taking blood pressure medication was employed in each city. Campaigns were broadcast intermittently over a four month period, with recruitment results compared to those using conventional methods in the previous 20 months.
Results: Facebook advertisement resulted in a significant increase in the number of participants recruited per month among the Canberra and Hobart sites (from 4.1/month to 7.0/month; p<0.05). However, participant recruitment remained unchanged (and low) at the Brisbane site (2.4/month to 2.6/month; p=0.89). Despite a greater population reach in Brisbane (n=91,828) compared with Canberra (n=71,343) and Hobart (n=52,647), the number of clicks onto the advertisement in Brisbane was equal to other sites (n=2757, n=2521, n=2991 respectively). Several attempts were made to improve the Facebook advertising strategy in Brisbane, but with no effect.
Conclusion: Facebook advertisement can be a successful tool to increase participant recruitment into a blood pressure clinical trial, but effectiveness appears to be location-dependent.
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TY - JOUR AU - Erin Nash* AU - James Sharman PY - 2015 DA - 2015/11/23 TI - P6.5 EFFECTIVENESS OF FACEBOOK FOR PARTICIPANT RECRUITMENT INTO A BLOOD PRESSURE RANDOMISED CONTROLLED CLINICAL TRIAL JO - Artery Research SP - 26 EP - 26 VL - 12 IS - C SN - 1876-4401 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.artres.2015.10.289 DO - 10.1016/j.artres.2015.10.289 ID - Nash*2015 ER -