Creating a centralized social media recruitment service for research teams at the University of Michigan.

Successful social media recruitment requires specific expertise and constant upkeep, placing an inordinate burden on study teams. Over half of the study teams at the University of Michigan (U-M) surveyed about recruitment assistance needs indicated that they wanted to use social media as a recruitment strategy, but lacked the expertise to do so. We thus built a service to centralize social media recruitment across the university.

Development and evaluation of an augmented reality education program for pediatric research.

Background: Children often have limited understanding of clinical research and what they might expect from participating in a clinical study. Studies, however, suggest that multimedia delivery of medical and research information may promote greater understanding and engagement compared with standard written approaches.

Aim: This study was designed to examine the effects of a novel interactive augmented reality (AR) program on children's understanding of clinical research.

Adapting the model of consumer behavior to the design of an online health research recruitment tool.

Introduction: UMHealthResearch is the University of Michigan's digital health research recruitment platform. It allows health researchers to connect efficiently with potentially eligible volunteers.

Methods: In 2013, the UMHealthResearch team strategically adapted a consumer behavior model, the buying funnel, to create the Digital Health Research Participation Funnel.

The MICHR Genomic DNA BioLibrary: An Empirical Study of the Ethics of Biorepository Development.

In this article, we report on an effort to study the development and usefulness of a large, broad-use, opt-in biorepository for genomic research, focusing on three ethical issues: providing appropriate understanding, recruiting in ways that do not comprise autonomous decisions, and assessing costs versus benefits. We conclude the following: (a) Understanding can be improved by separating the task of informing subjects from documenting informed consent (Common Rule) and permission to use personal health information and samples for research (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA]); however, regulations might have to be changed to accommodate this approach. (b) Changing recruiting methods increases efficiency but can interfere with subject autonomy.