Facebook Recruitment for Children with Advanced Cancer and Their Parents: Lessons from a Web-based Pediatric Palliative Intervention Study

Abstract

Participant recruitment for pediatric palliative intervention studies is a chronic challenge for researchers. Digital recruitment strategies, or digital technology-assisted recruitment methods used to remotely reach and enroll research subjects, can help address these recruitment challenges for pediatric palliative care clinical trials. This study (a) describes Facebook recruitment procedures targeting children with cancer and their parents for a pediatric palliative intervention randomized clinical trial, (b) reports recruitment results, and (c) discusses successful strategies to recruit pediatric populations via Facebook advertisements. Researchers used Facebook advertisements to recruit children with advanced cancer (aged 7–17 years) for a web-based legacy intervention. Between years 2015 and 2018, our research team enrolled 150 child–parent dyads (N = 300) to participate in the web-based legacy program. Results suggest that Facebook advertisements can be a successful tool to access and recruit pediatric populations with life-threatening conditions. Further research is needed to determine how innovative social-media recruitment strategies could be used in other populations of patients with serious illnesses and their caregivers to further advance the science in palliative care.

Keywords:

• digital recruitment
• Facebook
• pediatric palliative care
• childhood cancer

Acknowledgements

We thank the children and their parents who generously participated in this study. We also thank Drs. Cynthia A. Gerhardt and Barbara Given (study consultants) for providing guidance on the recruitment approach. We acknowledge Paramore Digital for assisting in Facebook recruitment.

Disclosure statement

This work was supported by funding as noted above. The authors report no further conflicts of interest.

Data availability statement

Raw data were generated at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. The data that support the results of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research (US) (grant R01 NR015353; ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT04059393; principal investigator: T.F.A.) and NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (grant UL1 TR000445). Additionally, this project was conducted in collaboration with the Palliative Care Research Cooperative Group funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (grant U24 NR014637).

Notes on contributors

Eunji Cho

Eunji Cho, PhD, RN is a postdoctoral fellow at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She received a doctoral degree in nursing from Duke University. Her research interest is exploring the concept of human flourishing in children, adolescents, and young adults with life-threatening conditions and developing psychosocial interventions for this population.

Mary Jo Gilmer

Mary Jo Gilmer, PhD, MBA, RN-BC, FAAN is a professor of nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and a professor of medicine (pediatrics) at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Her research interests focus on ways to reduce suffering in children with cancer through interventions such as animal-assisted interactions and promotion of parent–child communication.

Debra L. Friedman

Debra L. Friedman, MD, MS is the E. Bronson Ingram chair in pediatric oncology and associate professor of pediatrics; leader, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Cancer Health Outcomes; and control program director, Division of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, Tennessee.

Verna L. Hendricks-Ferguson

Verna L. Hendricks-Ferguson, PhD, RN, FPCN, FAAN is the Irene Riddle Endowed Chair at Saint Louis University’s Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing, St. Louis, Missouri. Her program of research includes: (a) evaluation of interventions focused on offering earlier discussions by pediatric oncology providers to parents of children and adolescents with a poor prognosis cancer about the benefits of palliative and end-of-life care support and (b) evaluation of psychosocial focused palliative care interventions (i.e., music, art, and mindfulness) for pediatric and adult patients.

Pamela S. Hinds

Pamela S. Hinds, PhD, RN, FAAN is The William and Joanne Conway chair in nursing research and executive director, Department of Nursing Science, Professional Practice, and Quality Outcomes; and research integrity officer and professor, Department of Pediatrics, Children's National Health System, and The George Washington University, Washington, DC. Her research interests include patient-reported outcomes in pediatric palliative care and the roles of clinicians in supporting families of seriously ill children.

Terrah Foster Akard

Terrah Foster Akard, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN is an associate professor and director of graduate studies for the PhD in Nursing Science Program at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Her research interests are developing psychosocial interventions to reduce suffering and improve quality of life for pediatric palliative care populations. Her research focuses on web-based recruitment methods and legacy interventions for children with serious illness and their family members.