Ethics and Research with Children (2nd Ed): Social Media and Pediatric Research Recruitment

Author: Luke Gelinas, PhD, and Jennifer C. Kesselheim
Publication: Oxford University Press

Advarra IRB Chairperson Luke Gelinas contributed to the essay Social Media and Pediatric Research Recruitment in the volume Ethics and Research with Children: A Case-Based Approach (2nd ed.).

Social media use has increased exponentially across all demographics. With social media’s widespread popularity comes an increased potential for research sponsors and investigators to use it as an effective tool for recruiting individuals into clinical research. Despite this, there has been relatively little attention paid to the general ethical issues implicated in social media recruitment and even less attention paid to the distinct ethical issues raised by using social media to recruit pediatric populations more specifically. This chapter examines these issues, providing an overview of the use of social media in clinical practice, an assessment of the general ethical issues associated with social media recruitment, and analysis of the potential risks and benefits of using social media to target adolescents for recruitment into clinical research.

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