Using Patient-Generated Health Data From Twitter to Identify, Engage, and Recruit Cancer Survivors in Clinical Trials in Los Angeles County: Evaluation of a Feasibility Study.

Background: Failure to find and attract clinical trial participants remains a persistent barrier to clinical research. Researchers increasingly complement recruitment methods with social media-based methods. We hypothesized that user-generated data from cancer survivors and their family members and friends on the social network Twitter could be used to identify, engage, and recruit cancer survivors for cancer trials.

General Practice and Digital Methods to Recruit Stroke Survivors to a Clinical Mobility Study: Comparative Analysis.

Background: Participant recruitment remains a barrier to conducting clinical research. The disabling nature of a stroke, which often includes functional and cognitive impairments, and the acute stage of illness at which patients are appropriate for many trials make recruiting patients particularly complex and challenging. In addition, people aged 65 years and older, which includes most stroke survivors, have been identified as a group that is difficult to reach and is commonly underrepresented in health research, particularly clinical trials.

Correction: General Audience Engagement With Antismoking Public Health Messages Across Multiple Social Media Sites: Comparative Analysis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/24429.].

General Audience Engagement With Antismoking Public Health Messages Across Multiple Social Media Sites: Comparative Analysis.

Background: Public health organizations have begun to use social media to increase awareness of health harm and positively improve health behavior. Little is known about effective strategies to disseminate health education messages digitally and ultimately achieve optimal audience engagement.

Objective: This study aims to assess the difference in audience engagement with identical antismoking health messages on three social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) and with a referring link to a tobacco prevention website cited in these messages.

Public Response to a Social Media Tobacco Prevention Campaign: Content Analysis.

Background: Prior research suggests that social media-based public health campaigns are often targeted by countercampaigns.

Objective: Using reactance theory as the theoretical framework, this research characterizes the nature of public response to tobacco prevention messages disseminated via a social media-based campaign. We also examine whether agreement with the prevention messages is associated with comment tone and nature of the contribution to the overall discussion.

Public Concern About Monitoring Twitter Users and Their Conversations to Recruit for Clinical Trials: Survey Study.

Background: Social networks such as Twitter offer the clinical research community a novel opportunity for engaging potential study participants based on user activity data. However, the availability of public social media data has led to new ethical challenges about respecting user privacy and the appropriateness of monitoring social media for clinical trial recruitment. Researchers have voiced the need for involving users' perspectives in the development of ethical norms and regulations.

A Software Tool Aimed at Automating the Generation, Distribution, and Assessment of Social Media Messages for Health Promotion and Education Research.

Background: Social media offers promise for communicating the risks and health effects of harmful products and behaviors to larger and hard-to-reach segments of the population. Nearly 70% of US adults use some social media. However, rigorous research across different social media is vital to establish successful evidence-based health communication strategies that meet the requirements of the evolving digital landscape and the needs of diverse populations.

Monitoring Twitter Conversations for Targeted Recruitment in Cancer Trials in Los Angeles County: Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Pilot Study.

Background: Insufficient recruitment of participants remains a critical roadblock to successful clinical research, particularly clinical trials. Social media provide new ways for connecting potential participants with research opportunities. Researchers suggest that the social network Twitter may serve as a rich avenue for exploring how patients communicate about their health issues and increasing enrollment in cancer clinical trials.