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Social Marketing Perspective on Participant Recruitment in Informatics-Based Intervention Studies

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Abstract

Effective recruitment strategies are pivotal for informatics-based intervention trials success, particularly for people living with HIV (PLWH), where engagement can be challenging. Although informatics interventions are recognized for improving health outcomes, the effectiveness of their recruitment strategies remains unclear. We investigated the application of a social marketing framework in navigating the nuances of recruitment for informatics-based intervention trials for PLWH by examining participant experiences and perceptions. We used qualitative descriptive methodology to conduct semi-structured interviews with 90 research participants from four informatics-based intervention trials. Directed inductive and deductive content analyses were guided by Howcutt et al.’s social marketing framework on applying the decision-making process to research recruitment. The majority were male (86.7%), living in the Northeast United States (56%), and identified as Black (32%) or White (32%). Most participants (60%) completed the interview remotely. Sixteen subthemes emerged from five themes: motivation, perception, attitude formation, integration, and learning. Findings from our interview data suggest that concepts from Howcutt et al.’s framework informed participants’ decisions to participate in an informatics-based intervention trial. We found that the participants’ perceptions of trust in the research process were integral to the participants across the four trials. However, the recruitment approach and communication medium preferences varied between older and younger age groups. Social marketing framework can provide insight into improving the research recruitment process. Future work should delve into the complex interplay between the type of informatics-based interventions, trust in the research process, and communication preferences, and how these factors collectively influence participants’ willingness to engage.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality grants R36HS028752 and R01HS025071, the National Institute of Nursing Research grants R01NR019758, T32NR007969, P30NR016587, and K24NR018621, the National Institute of Mental Health grant R01MH118151, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities grant U01MD011279, and the National Library of Medicine grant T15LM007079. The content is solely the authors’ responsibility and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Betina Idnay, Evette Cordoba, Sergio Ozoria Ramirez, Eugenia Xiao, Olivia R Wood & Rebecca Schnall

  2. Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Betina Idnay

  3. School of Social Work, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    D. Scott Batey

  4. Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Robert Garofalo

  5. Department of Pediatrics, Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Robert Garofalo

  6. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Rebecca Schnall

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  1. Betina Idnay
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Idnay, B., Cordoba, E., Ramirez, S.O. et al. Social Marketing Perspective on Participant Recruitment in Informatics-Based Intervention Studies. AIDS Behav (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-024-04355-6

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