Social media recruitment for mental health research: A systematic review

Catherine Sanchez; Adrienne Grzenda; Andrea Varias; Alik S Widge; Linda L Carpenter; William M McDonald; Charles B Nemeroff; Ned H Kalin; Glenn Martin; Mauricio Tohen; Maria Filippou-Frye; Drew Ramsey; Eleni Linos; Christina Mangurian; Carolyn I Rodriguez

doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152197

Social media recruitment for mental health research: A systematic review

Compr Psychiatry. 2020 Nov:103:152197. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152197. Epub 2020 Aug 12.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
² Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, MN, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Butler Hospital and Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, Austin, TX, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
¹¹ Department of Dermatology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
¹² Department of Psychiatry, Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA. Electronic address: carolynrodriguez@stanford.edu.

Abstract

Background: Social media holds exciting promise for advancing mental health research recruitment, however, the extent and efficacy to which these platforms are currently in use are underexplored.

Objective: A systematic review was conducted to characterize the current use and efficacy of social media in recruiting participants for mental health research.

Method: A literature review was performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsychINFO. Only non-duplicative manuscripts written in the English language and published between 1/1/2004-3/31/2019 were selected for further screening. Data extracted included study type and design, participant inclusion criteria, social media platform, advertising strategy, final recruited sample size, recruitment location, year, monetary incentives, comparison to other recruitment methods if performed, and final cost per participant.

Results: A total of 176 unique studies that used social media for mental health research recruitment were reviewed. The majority of studies were cross-sectional (62.5%) in design and recruited adults. Facebook was overwhelmingly the recruitment platform of choice (92.6%), with the use of paid advertisements being the predominant strategy (60.8%). Of the reviewed studies, substance abuse (43.8%) and mood disorders (15.3%) were the primary subjects of investigation. In 68.3% of studies, social media recruitment performed as well as or better than traditional recruitment methods in the number and cost of final enrolled participants. The majority of studies used Facebook for recruitment at a median cost per final recruited study participant of $19.47. In 55.6% of the studies, social media recruitment was the more cost-effective recruitment method when compared to traditional methods (e.g., referrals, mailing).

Conclusion: Social media appears to be an effective and economical recruitment tool for mental health research. The platform raises methodological and privacy concerns not covered in current research regulations that warrant additional consideration.

Keywords: Recruitment; Research; Social media.

Published by Elsevier Inc.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Adult
Advertising
Cross-Sectional Studies
Humans
Mental Health*
Research Design
Social Media*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding