Social Media Versus Traditional Clinic-Based Recruitment for a Dyadic Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevention Trial: Results From the Sexperience Study

Abstract

Background: The enrollment of youth in clinical trials has generally been achieved through conventional in-person recruitment but is evolving with the surge in the use of social media and presents an alternative resource for research recruitment for sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention trials.

Purpose: To compare the direct costs and performance of social media recruitment versus clinic-based recruitment method for a dyadic behavioral intervention for STI among heterosexual couples.

Methods: In the clinic-based recruitment arm spanning 60 weeks, patients aged 16-25 years were recruited through an adolescent/young adult clinic. Social media adverts targeting college students within the city were also posted online over 23 weeks, using Facebook ad software. We compared the direct costs and performance of both recruitment methods to assess feasibility.

Results: Three hundred eighty-one individuals were approached, of which 21 completed the dyadic intervention (11 from social media-based recruitment and 10 from clinic-based recruitment). Clinic-based recruitment accounted for 91.0% of total recruitment cost and 9.9% of the total cost was spent on social media recruitment via Facebook ad.

Conclusions: Recruitment of adolescents and young adults for a dyadic behavioral STI intervention trial using social media is feasible, has lower direct costs, and results in similar outcomes compared to clinic-based recruitment.

Keywords: Adolescent; Genital tract infection; Recruitment; Sexual health; Social media; Young adult.