title: Recruiting for addiction research via Facebook.
abstract: This study aimed to examine the feasibility of recruiting participants to addiction research via Facebook.
  
  
  
  Participants were recruited via an advertisement on Facebook, a local research register and university psychology courses. Participants completed a self-report survey regarding substance use, history of mental health issues and current psychological distress.
  
  
  
  The 524 participants recruited via Facebook cost $1.86 per participant; and 418 participants were recruited via more traditional methods. There were significantly fewer women in the Facebook sample compared with the non-Facebook sample (χ(2)  = 196.61, P < 0.001), but no differences on age. Significantly more Facebook participants reported current use of tobacco (women: Facebook = 57%, non-Facebook = 21%, χ(2)  = 39.71, P < 0.001; men: Facebook = 62%, non-Facebook = 21%, χ(2)  = 32.429, P < 0.001) and cannabis (women: Facebook = 26%, non-Facebook = 7%, χ(2)  = 14.364, P < 0.001; men: Facebook = 46%, non-Facebook = 24%, χ(2)  = 6.765, P < 0.01). They also reported significantly more harmful use of tobacco [women: F degrees of freedom (d.f.) = 6.07, P < 0.05; men: F(d.f.) = 9.03, P < 0.01] and cannabis [women: F(d.f.) = 11.00, P < 0.01; men: F(d.f.) = 6.40, P < 0.05]. The Facebook sample contained a higher percentage of high-severity cannabis users (women: Facebook = 24%, non-Facebook = 4%, χ(2)  = 18.12, P < 0.001; men: Facebook = 43%, non-Facebook = 16%, χ(2)  = 10.00, P < 0.01) and reported significantly more severe depressive symptoms [women: F(d.f.) = 26.38, P < 0.001; men: F(d.f.) = 7.44, P < 0.05].
  
  
  
  Through Facebook, we were able to capture a greater proportion of people with high-severity substance use and mental health issues and were able to capture a greater and more severe range of substance use behaviours. This suggests social networking sites are efficient, cost-effective ways to recruit large numbers of participants, with relevant behaviours and conditions, to addiction research. [Thornton LK, Harris K, Baker AL, Johnson M, Kay-Lambkin FJ. Recruiting for addiction research via Facebook. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:494-502].
authors.affiliation: Centre for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.|National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Louise K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Thornton
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Centre for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Amanda L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Centre for Translational Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.|National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Frances J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Kay-Lambkin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016739:Behavior, Addictive; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D057566:Self Report; D061108:Social Media; D060756:Social Networking; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: addiction; research subject recruitment; social media; social networking site