Using social media for health research: Methodological and ethical considerations for recruitment and intervention delivery

Type Journal Article Author Danielle Arigo Author Sherry Pagoto Author Lisa Carter-Harris Author Sarah E Lillie Author Camille Nebeker URL https://doi.org/10.1177/2055207618771757 Volume 4 Pages 2055207618771757 Publication DIGITAL HEALTH ISSN 2055-2076 Date January 1, 2018 Journal Abbr DIGITAL HEALTH DOI 10.1177/2055207618771757 Accessed 2018-05-14 14:41:28 Library Catalog SAGE Journals Language en Abstract As the popularity and diversity of social media platforms increases so does their utility for health research. Using social media for recruitment into clinical studies and/or delivering health behavior interventions may increase reach to a broader audience. However, evidence supporting the efficacy of these approaches is limited, and key questions remain with respect to optimal benchmarks, intervention development and methodology, participant engagement, informed consent, privacy, and data management. Little methodological guidance is available to researchers interested in using social media for health research. In this Tutorial, we summarize the content of the 2017 Society for Behavioral Medicine Pre-Conference Course entitled ‘Using Social Media for Research,’ at which the authors presented their experiences with methodological and ethical issues relating to social media-enabled research recruitment and intervention delivery. We identify common pitfalls and provide recommendations for recruitment and intervention via social media. We also discuss the ethical and responsible conduct of research using social media for each of these purposes. Short Title Using social media for health research