ArticleInternet interventions2019
Facebook ads to the rescue? Recruiting a hard to reach population into an Internet-based behavioral health intervention trial.
Article in Internet interventions, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Online Patient Recruitment in Clinical Trials: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Pooled it
- Mitigating fraud in a fully decentralized clinical trial of a digital health intervention.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2025Trial
- Using social media to recruit individuals for health-related research: Feasibility and lessons learned.Journal of health psychology · 2023Trial
- Digital health promotion strategies to increase HIV testing uptake among key populations: a scoping review.Cadernos de saude publica · 2026Article
- Leveraging Social Media and Crowdsourcing to Recruit and Retain Military Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or Experience of Harmful Gambling for mHealth Interventions: Descriptive Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2025Article
- Bringing Trial Activities to Participants-The Trials@Home RADIAL Proof-of-Concept Trial Investigating Decentralization of Trials.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2025Article
- Strategies for Identifying and Recruiting Women at High Risk for Breast Cancer for Research Outside of Clinical Settings: Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Observational
- A Protocol for the Inclusion of Minoritized Persons in Alzheimer Disease Research From the ADNI3 Diversity Taskforce.JAMA network open · 2024Observational
- Double-Duty Carers' Health and Wellbeing during COVID-19: Exploring the Role of Mobility of the Care Economy in Southern Ontario, Canada.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Testing Behavioral Messages to Increase Recruitment to Health Research When Embedded Within Social Media Campaigns on Twitter: Web-Based Experimental Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Is self-advocacy universally achievable for patients? The experiences of Australian women with cardiac disease in pregnancy and postpartum.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2023Article
- Digital culturally tailored marketing for enrolling Latino participants in a web-based registry: Baseline metrics from the Brain Health Registry.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2023Article
- Effectiveness and cost analysis of methods used to recruit older adult sedative users to a deprescribing randomized controlled trial during the COVID-19 pandemic.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2023Article
- Reaching Populations at Risk for HIV Through Targeted Facebook Advertisements: Cost-Consequence Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Promoting the Participation of "Hard-to-Reach" Migrant Populations in Qualitative Public Health Research during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chile.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- The Community Engaged Digital Alzheimer's Research (CEDAR) Study: A Digital Intervention to Increase Research Participation of Black American Participants in the Brain Health Registry.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2023Article
- Digital Global Recruitment for Women's Health Research: Cross-sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- Insights Into Needs and Preferences for Mental Health Support on Social Media and Through Mobile Apps Among Black Male University Students: Exploratory Qualitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- The healthcare experiences of women with cardiac disease in pregnancy and postpartum: A qualitative study.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Article
- Simulating Facebook Advertisements to Establish Cost per New HIV Diagnosis Using Routine and Targeted Models in a Local Population.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveFacebook (FB) ads are touted as a way to facilitate recruitment of hard to reach participants into digital health research but the evidence has been mixed. This study aimed to empirically evaluate the impact and cost-effectiveness of paid ads for recruitment into a national trial testing an Internet-based, coached intervention for parents of children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.
methodsPost hoc analysis of FB ad data and Google analytics on the online trial consent site (myStudies) were conducted on 11 campaigns employing static image/text ads. Standard metrics (e.g., click through rate, cost per 1000 impressions, cost per consent) were calculated and descriptive statistics comparing FB ad engagement and enrolled participants over time were conducted.
resultsAd campaigns were active for a combined 115 days over 58 weeks resulting in 1533 links to the online recruitment site. During the ad campaigns, the mean rate of enrolment was 1 participant every 2 days. The first 3 ad campaigns were the most cost-effective. Mean cost per enrolment was $19.27 (Canadian dollars).
conclusionsFB ads were efficient and cost-effective in broad dissemination of trial information, but more research is needed to explore the impact of saturation (how often ads are posted), design (what is in the ad), and individual determinants (who is likely to respond to an ad) on converting FB ad engagement into enrolment. Avoiding a reductionist approach to analytics will help ensure appropriate and targeted strategies remain the priority for digital health research recruitment through social media.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.