General Surgery Twitter during COVID-19: Tweets, Trends, and Implications for Recruitment Strategies

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted traditional resident recruitment practices, requiring virtual interviews and new forms of outreach. Social media, such as Twitter, is one tool programs can use to connect with applicants. This study sought to assess changes in Twitter use during the COVID-19 pandemic among general surgery programs. Methods Twitter and residency program websites were queried for public Twitter accounts related to general surgery residency programs. Publicly available tweets for available accounts were reviewed for all posts for the period March 15, 2019-November 25, 2020. Thematic analysis of each tweet was performed, and engagement was determined by likes and retweets on each tweet. Results The number of programs with active Twitter accounts increased after the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, as did the number of tweets, likes-, and retweets-per-tweet. There was a significant increase in the number of tweets regarding resident promotion, program promotion, and virtual event promotion. Tweets received more likes-per-tweet if the subject was program promotion and resident promotion than tweets regarding virtual events. All results were statistically significant ( P < .05). Discussion Twitter use and engagement with residency programs have increased significantly since pandemic onset. Engagement is highest for tweets regarding program and resident promotion as measured by likes-per-tweet and highest for program promotion and virtual events as measured by retweets-per-tweet. Given the nearly nationwide increase in Twitter engagement after pandemic onset, programs should consider the impact of Twitter as a means of communication with applicants and program branding.

Recruitment and Retention of Parents of Adolescents in a Text Messaging Trial (MyTeen): Secondary Analysis From a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Parenting programs are well established as an effective strategy for enhancing both parenting skills and the well-being of the child. However, recruitment for family programs in clinical and nonclinical settings remains low. Objective This study aims to describe the recruitment and retention methods used in a text messaging program (MyTeen) trial for parents of adolescents (10-15 years) and identify key lessons learned. We aim to provide insights and direction for researchers who seek to recruit parents and build on the limited literature on recruitment and retention strategies for parenting program trials. Methods A recruitment plan was developed, monitored, and modified as needed throughout the course of the project. Strategies to facilitate recruitment were identified (eg, program content and recruitment material, staff characteristics, and study procedures). Traditional and web-based recruitment strategies were used. Results Over a 5-month period, 319 parents or caregivers expressed interest in our study, of which 221 agreed to participate in the study, exceeding our recruitment target of 214 participants. Attrition was low at the 1-month (4.5% overall; intervention group: n=5, 4.6%; control group: n=5, 4.5%) and 3-month follow-ups (9% overall; intervention group: n=10, 9.2%; control group: n=10, 8.9%). Conclusions The use of web-based recruitment strategies appeared to be most effective for recruiting and retaining parents in a text-messaging program trial. However, we encountered recruitment challenges (ie, underrepresentation of ethnic minority groups and fathers) similar to those reported in the literature. Therefore, efforts to engage ethnic minorities and fathers are needed. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12618000117213; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=374307

Willingness to Participate in Biobanking: The Roles of Personality Traits and Interpersonal Trusting Beliefs

Health-related philanthropy is essential for biobanks. Nonetheless, little is known about the roles of personality and trust in particular with respect to participation in biobanking. In a sample of 600 Slovaks, the present study aimed to examine whether interpersonal trusting beliefs mediate the relationships between the Big Five personality traits and the willingness to participate in biobanking. The results showed that extraversion, agreeableness and open-mindedness were indirectly positively related to the willingness to participate in biobanking, while conscientiousness showed mixed results. Self-focused generalised trust, other-focused generalised trust, and trust in medical researchers appeared to be factors explaining these indirect relationships. The findings provide support for the theory of planned behaviour and can be applied in communication and recruitment strategies attempting to attract participants of biobanking.

Effective Recruitment Strategies for Community-Dwelling Persons Living With Dementia and Their Caregivers

Recruitment of diverse community-dwelling persons living with dementia (PLWD) and their caregivers (dyads) into randomized controlled trials (RCT) is challenging, time consuming and expensive. This presentation will describe community outreach efforts used over a one-year period to recruit dyads of PLWD and their caregivers in Healthy Patterns RCT. Community outreach yielded 296 inquiries, such that people expressed interest in joining the study. Of the 296 inquiries, almost all (95.6%) identified as African American, and 91(30.7%) consented to join the study. Presentations at senior centers yielded the highest number of inquiries (n=148), followed by staff presence at various community events such as health fairs and senior galas (n=145) and referrals (n=3). We found that community outreach was an effective recruitment strategy to generate inquiries among diverse PLWD and their caregivers to enroll in Healthy Patterns. We will discuss these strategies and provide suggestions for recruiting diverse dyads into clinical trials.

Effective recruitment strategies for home-living vulnerable older adults with depression into a psychotherapy RCT

Objectives Vulnerable older adults, such as physically impaired or care-dependent individuals, are vastly underrepresented in psychotherapy research. Improving their inclusion in randomized controlled trials is necessary to determine the effectiveness of psychotherapy in this population. This study is the first to systematically evaluate strategies to recruit home-living vulnerable older adults with clinically significant depression into a large randomized controlled psychotherapy trial. Potential participants were approached directly (self-referral) or via cooperation with gatekeepers (gatekeeper-referral). Methods The initiator of the first contact with the study team and successful recruitment strategies were recorded. Referral strategies were compared with respect to number of inquiries and inclusion rates; study personnel’s time investment; and participant characteristics (sociodemographics, functional and cognitive status, depression and anxiety scores). Results Most of the N=197 participants were included via gatekeeper-referral (80.5%, 95%CI=[74.9%,86.1%], but time investment for gatekeeper-referrals was five times higher than for self-referral by media reports. Clinical psychologists and medical practitioners referred the largest proportion of participants (32.3% each) and referral by medical practitioners led to highest inclusion rates (55.6%; χ²(3)=8.964, p&lt;.05). Most participants were referred from a hospital setting (50.3%), whereas referral numbers by medical practices were low (15.9%). Participants who initiated the first contact themselves had higher inclusion rates and were less functionally and cognitively impaired. Conclusions Including home-living vulnerable older adults into psychotherapy trials requires simultaneous implementation of diverse recruitment strategies. Medical practitioners and psychologists, especially in hospitals, are the most effective recruitment strategy, but self-referral via media is most cost-efficient in terms of time investment.

Comparisons Between Recruitment and Retention Strategies for Two Online RCTs

Custodial grandfamilies (CGF) comprise a small, diverse group of the US population which can make samples difficult to recruit and retain. Two online RCT studies (S1 & S2) for CGF used a variety of recruitment strategies with varying success. S1, for grandmothers (GM) only, successfully recruited from Facebook (47.95%) and community flyers (17.73%). S2, dyadic study for GM and adolescent grandchildren (AGC), recruited through emails to high school counselors (43.29%) and community (30.94%) and professional (17.13%) kinship support organizations. The advantages of online RCTs for hard-to-reach populations include expedited administration, buffering against social distancing, nationwide enrollment (S1-42 states; S2-43 states), and generalizability of findings. Challenges of online RCTs are establishing rapport and building trust with participants who are not comfortable with technology and designing screenings to identify false participants. Overall, these studies highlight the advantages of an online RCT, especially for hard-to-reach populations like custodial grandfamilies.

Cultural Adaptations to Recruitment Strategies and Community-Based Interventions for Dementia Caregivers

Nearly 30 years after the 1993 National Institute of Health Revitalization Act, minority groups’ low participation in research remains (which required the inclusion of women and racial/ethnic minority groups into government-funded clinical trials). This is particularly the case for participation in research on Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD). Deeply rooted historical race-based mistreatment in research and in the health care system at large persist as barriers to low-participation of minorities (i.e. Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino) and immigrants in research studies, who remain at disparate risk for adverse ADRD health outcomes and expedited mortality. The use of culturally adapted approaches in recruitment strategies and community-based interventions might be helpful to encourage the participation of underrepresented groups into research. As such, this presentation highlights three studies that seek to use cultural adaptation to inform recruitment strategies and community-based interventions. First, Dr. Parker will present how tenets from Critical Race Theory can be used to inform culturally-adapted recruitment strategies of Black/African American caregivers into community-based research by drawing upon two ongoing studies: a randomized trial providing caregiver support through Adult Day Services (ADS) and the evaluation of impact of ADS on stress levels of Black/African American using biomarker measures. Next, Ms. Johnson will present results on cultural adaptions to the ADS-Plus Program for Spanish-speaking populations. Finally, Dr. Nkimbeng will present on the process of culturally-tailoring dementia education for African immigrants in Minnesota. Findings from this presentation identify opportunities for researchers to use cultural adaptations to encourage participation of underrepresented populations into ADRD research.

Tailoring Recruitment and Outreach Strategies for Underrepresented Students in Public Health Pipeline Programs

Studies have shown that racial and ethnic minority health professionals are more likely than those in the majority to work in predominantly underserved, largely minority communities. Increasing the pool of underrepresented racial and ethnic professionals could help reduce health disparities. Summer programs giving minority students public health training and experiences can increase the number who enter the health professions. This article describes recruitment strategies for obtaining a diverse pool of applicants for such a program as part of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded multisite undergraduate training program intended to increase the diversity of the public health workforce. The recruitment strategies used included institutional linkages, collaborative partnerships, and interpersonal contacts. No one strategy was more effective; however, Hispanic/Latinas were more likely to be recruited through institutional linkages, but less likely to be recruited through interpersonal contacts than other female groups. Understanding successful recruitment strategies to achieve a diverse application pool for public health training programs is vital to achieve health equity.