Social media-based participant recruitment in mental health research: an exploratory pilot study.
Purpose: Despite potential benefits of using social media for participant recruitment in mental health research, there are limited evaluations to guide researchers. This pilot study aims to explore feasibility of using social media in mental health research to recruit a population-representative, he...
| Published in: | Mental Health Review Journal Vol. 31; no. 1; pp. 1 - 16 |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Emerald Publishing Limited
2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=191266232&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 191266232 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 13619322 3BUI jtl: Mental Health Review Journal issn: 13619322 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2026 vid: 31 iid: 1 pid: 465 pub: Emerald Publishing Limited artinfo: ui: 191266232 191266232 191266232 191266232 ppf: 1 ppct: 15 formats: tig: atl: Social media-based participant recruitment in mental health research: an exploratory pilot study. aug: au: Riches, Simon Williams, Grace Moss, Hannah Fisher, Helen L. Rumball, Freya affil: Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK sug: subj: Research, Mental Health Social Media Patient Selection Research Subject Recruitment Human Male Female Adolescence Young Adult Pilot Studies Exploratory Research Comparative Studies Descriptive Statistics Nonexperimental Studies Study Design Internet Consent (Research) Privacy and Confidentiality Confidentiality (Research) Chi Square Test Sociodemographic Factors Budgets Socioeconomic Factors Sample Size Determination Selection Bias Mental Health Funding Source Adolescent: 13-18 years Male Female ab: Purpose: Despite potential benefits of using social media for participant recruitment in mental health research, there are limited evaluations to guide researchers. This pilot study aims to explore feasibility of using social media in mental health research to recruit a population-representative, heterogeneous sample of adults from the general population. Design/methodology/approach: The global, top 15 most popular social media platforms were evaluated according to researchers' needs to determine use in this study. Recruitment, over three months, used standard, cost-free methods to recruit participants to a survey-based mental health study. In the last month of recruitment, researchers piloted the addition of paid advertising, to reduce sampling bias and aid recruitment. The evaluation aimed to monitor engagement of potential participants with social media. Findings: Survey participants (n = 2,195) were mostly of white ethnicity, female and aged 18–24 years, indicating limited representation. Over one million individuals interacted with social media posts. Standard use averaged 1,124 people reached, 32 engagements, 6 link clicks per day on tracked social media posts, and on average 24 new participants per day. Paid advertising averaged 36,372 people reached, 5,959 engagements, 338 link clicks per day, and on average 22 new participants per day. Conversion rate differed between phase of recruitment, but sample diversity did not differ significantly. Paid advertising did not appear to make a difference. Originality/value: This study highlights that social media is an exciting development in research and has potential to increase sample size. This study identifies practical challenges for researchers, such as adequate funding and understanding of social media. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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