A mixed-methods evaluation of virtual recruitment strategies from two mHealth studies in Australia.
Background: Recruiting participants for health research can be challenging. Virtual recruitment strategies are growing, including radio, email, and social media advertising. Prior research demonstrates a lack of clarity to which strategies are most effective, and further reporting is necessary to ma...
| Publicado en: | Discover Public Health Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 1 - 20 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Springer Nature
1/29/2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=191208166&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 191208166 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 30050774 NM7Z jtl: Discover Public Health issn: 30050774 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 1/29/2026 vid: 23 iid: 1 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature place: New York, New York artinfo: ui: 191208166 191208166 191208166 10.1186/s12982-026-01412-4 191208166 ppf: 1 ppct: 19 formats: tig: atl: A mixed-methods evaluation of virtual recruitment strategies from two mHealth studies in Australia. aug: au: Raeside, Rebecca Todd, Allyson R. Partridge, Stephanie R. Elder, Elisabeth Sherman, Kerry A. McNamara, Renae J. Alison, Jennifer A. Dale, Marita T. Wootton, Sally Spencer, Lissa Hyun, Karice K. Redfern, Julie Singleton, Anna C. affil: https://ror.org/0384j8v12 Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia sug: subj: Telehealth Australia Research Subject Recruitment Social Media Advertising Economics Human Funding Source Australia Multimethod Studies Post Hoc Analysis Content Analysis Descriptive Statistics Referral and Consultation Noncommunicable Diseases Male Female Adult Middle Age Aged Aged, 80 and Over Adult: 19-44 years Middle Aged: 45-64 years Aged: 65+ years Aged, 80 & over Male Female ab: Background: Recruiting participants for health research can be challenging. Virtual recruitment strategies are growing, including radio, email, and social media advertising. Prior research demonstrates a lack of clarity to which strategies are most effective, and further reporting is necessary to maximize recruitment success. This study aimed to observe differences in enrolment and uptake data over time across virtual recruitment strategies (paid and unpaid social media advertisements, not-for-profit organizations, radio), and evaluate the visibility, cost, and engagement of each recruitment strategy, when available. Methods: Post-hoc mixed-methods evaluation of virtual recruitment strategies (radio, not-for-profit organizations, paid and unpaid social media advertisements) from two mHealth implementation studies. Data were collected regarding number of enrolments over time, advertisement visibility (number of advertisements, reach, demographics), cost, and engagement (post reactions, comments, shares). Data were analyzed using summary statistics and inductive content analysis. Results: Virtual recruitment strategies enabled enrolment of 1548 participants in 9-months. Observations indicated not-for-profit health organization promotions and paid social media advertisements were associated with largest increases in recruitment. Paid advertisements (n = 15) had broad visibility across all Australian states and territories, reaching mostly females and people aged 65 + years, were low-cost, with high engagement. Engagement via comments on social media advertisements may have increased visibility through referrals, sharing personal experiences and connecting with one another. Conclusion: Not-for-profit organization promotions and paid social media advertisements are effective virtual recruitment strategies which may facilitate study visibility and increased recruitment. These findings are beneficial for researchers wishing to apply virtual recruitment strategies to future health research studies. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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