Social Media Listening in Improving Clinical Trial Recruitment in Patients With Cancer

University of Southern California

Overview

This pilot clinical trial studies how well social media listening works in improving clinical trial recruitment in patients with cancer. Social media listening and recruitment on Twitter may enhance enrollment for cancer-related clinical trials.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. Examine the feasibility (acceptance among University of Southern California \[USC\] Norris study team members and Twitter users in Los Angeles \[LA\] county) of targeted social media listening (SML) via Twitter as a tool for enhancing recruitment to cancer trials. II. Gain preliminary data on the impact (i.e., numbers recruited versus projected accrual compared to historic recruitment) of targeted social media listening (SML) as a tool for enhancing recruitment to cancer trials among Twitter users in LA county. III. Estimate the effect size of the number of people enrolled associated with the use of targeted social media listening (SML) via Twitter as a tool for enhancing recruitment to cancer trials. OUTLINE: Patients who mention specific cancer disease keywords and/or hashtags are identified and receive a message via Twitter. Patients are then contacted for recruitment into a clinical trial.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Conditions

Breast Carcinoma Colon Carcinoma Kidney Carcinoma Lymphoma Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma Prostate Carcinoma

Interventions

Internet-Based InterventionOTHER

Receive message via Twitter

Survey AdministrationOTHER

Ancillary studies

Eligibility

Sex: ALL

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * TRIAL INCLUSION: * Focus on one of the following disease categories: non-small cell lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer, lymphoma * Be a phase 1 trial in expansion, phase 2, or 3 * Be interventional trials * Recruit in English * Be Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved and open to accrual at USC Norris * Recruit for at least 9 months at the point of enrollment * Set monthly accrual target \>= 1/ and annual accrual target \>= 12 * PATIENT INCLUSION: * Will include all prospective trial participants in this study that come from Twitter in response of our SM recruitment interventions, provided they meet the specific trial's eligibility criteria Exclusion Criteria: * TRIAL EXCLUSION: * Phase 1 trials in dose escalation * PATIENT EXCLUSION: * Persons who do not meet the eligibility criteria of any of the trials open to accrual will be excluded from participation, and persons who may be eligible (e.g., disease/histology, stage, prior treatment) but do not meet additional trial-specific requirements such as insurance or allergy to drug)

Locations (1)

USC / Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center

Los Angeles, California, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

User acceptance and satisfaction with social media (SM) as a recruitment method

A questionnaire will be used assess the acceptance of and satisfaction with SM recruitment method among University of Southern California (USC) Norris study team members and Twitter users in Los Angeles (LA) county.

Time frame: Up to 14 months

Accrual rate

To be determined by comparing monthly actual versus (vs.) projected rate of recruitment for the trial disease groups (i.e., non-small cell lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer, lymphoma) using generalized estimating equations, accounting for intra-disease random effects and trends across the 12 months (9 months exposure per trial). These results will then be put into context of the historic recruitment for these diseases at the center.

Time frame: Up to 14 months

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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