Comparing recruitment strategies for a digital smoking cessation intervention: Technology-assisted peer recruitment, social media, ResearchMatch, and smokefree.gov

• Published in: Contemporary clinical trials 2021-04, Vol.103, p.106314-106314, Article 106314
• Main Authors: Faro, Jamie M., Nagawa, Catherine S., Orvek, Elizabeth A., Smith, Bridget M., Blok, Amanda C., Houston, Thomas K., Kamberi, Ariana, Allison, Jeroan J., Person, Sharina D., Sadasivam, Rajani S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Digital intervention; Dissemination; Humans; Male; Peer recruitment; Smokers; Smoking Cessation; Social Media; Tailored; Technology; Tobacco Smoking; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1551-7144; 1559-2030
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cct.2021.106314

Choosing the right recruitment strategy has implications for the successful conduct of a trial. Our objective was to compare a novel peer recruitment strategy to four other recruitment strategies for a large randomized trial testing a digital tobacco intervention. We compared enrollment rates, demographic and baseline smoking characteristics, and odds of completing the 6-month study by recruitment strategy. Cost of recruitment strategies per retained participant was calculated using staff personnel time and advertisement costs. We enrolled 1487 participants between August 2017 and March 2019 from: Peer recruitment n = 273 (18.4%), Facebook Ads n = 505 (34%), Google Ads = 200 (13.4%), ResearchMatch n = 356 (23.9%) and Smokefree.govn = 153 (10.3%). Mean enrollment rate per active recruitment month: 1) Peer recruitment, n = 13.9, 2) Facebook ads, n = 25.3, 3) Google ads, n = 10.51, 4) Research Match, n = 59.3, and 5) Smokefree.gov, n = 13.9. Peer recruitment recruited the greatest number of males (n = 110, 40.3%), young adults (n = 41, 14.7%), participants with a high school degree or less (n = 24, 12.5%) and smokers within one's social network. Compared to peer recruitment (retention rate = 57%), participants from Facebook were less likely (OR 0.46, p