ReviewJournal of medical Internet research2022
Ethical Issues in Social Media Recruitment for Clinical Studies: Ethical Analysis and Framework.
Review in Journal of medical Internet research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 16 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
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- How have contemporary research studies used social media to recruit to digital self-help intervention research for young people's mental health?: a mapping review.BMC medical research methodology · 2025Pooled it
- Social Media Use Among People Living with Chronic Pain: Cross-Sectional Study of Associated Factors.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Diverse Recruitment for Clinical Trials Using Three Diversity-Enhancing Interventions: Qualitative Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Ethical Considerations for the Use of Social Media in the Human Subjects Research Setting.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Response to letter regarding "Experiences of young adults affected by cancer within an 8-week yoga intervention delivered by videoconference: a qualitative interview study".Annals of medicine · 2025Article
- Regarding 'experiences of young adults affected by cancer within an 8-week yoga intervention delivered by videoconference: a qualitative interview study'.Annals of medicine · 2025Article
- Quantitative evaluation of recruitment strategies in a cluster-randomized trial: segmented regression and cost analysis from the AOK-Family + study.BMC medical research methodology · 2025Article
- Effectiveness and Costs of Participant Recruitment Strategies to a Web-Based Population Cohort: Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Observational
- Improving Representation of Underserved Populations in Cardiovascular Research.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Review
- Ethical Design of Data-Driven Decision Support Tools for Improving Cancer Care: Embedded Ethics Review of the 4D PICTURE Project.JMIR cancer · 2025Review
- Social Media Recruitment as a Potential Trigger for Vulnerability: Multistakeholder Interview Study.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Acceptance of Social Media Recruitment for Clinical Studies Among Patients With Hepatitis B: Mixed Methods Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Understanding how nurses can effectively utilise social media for increasing public involvement, recruitment and impact dissemination of Clinical Research Trials.Journal of research in nursing : JRN · 2024Article
- "Infantgram?" recruitment of infants to a clinical sleep study via social media.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2024Article
- Practical Benefits, Challenges, and Recommendations on Social Media Recruitment: Multi-Stakeholder Interview Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Practical social media recommendations for dementia prevention researchers.Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.)Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSocial media recruitment for clinical studies holds the promise of being a cost-effective way of attracting traditionally marginalized populations and promoting patient engagement with researchers and a particular study. However, using social media for recruiting clinical study participants also poses a range of ethical issues.
objectiveThis study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the ethical benefits and risks to be considered for social media recruitment in clinical studies and develop practical recommendations on how to implement these considerations.
methodsOn the basis of established principles of clinical ethics and research ethics, we reviewed the conceptual and empirical literature for ethical benefits and challenges related to social media recruitment. From these, we derived a conceptual framework to evaluate the eligibility of social media use for recruitment for a specific clinical study.
resultsWe identified three eligibility criteria for social media recruitment for clinical studies: information and consent, risks for target groups, and recruitment effectiveness. These criteria can be used to evaluate the implementation of a social media recruitment strategy at its planning stage. We have discussed the practical implications of these criteria for researchers.
conclusionsThe ethical challenges related to social media recruitment are context sensitive. Therefore, social media recruitment should be planned rigorously, taking into account the target group, the appropriateness of social media as a recruitment channel, and the resources available to execute the strategy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.