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Using mobile health applications for the rapid recruitment of perinatal women

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Abstract

This article describes how two research teams recruited participants using a mobile application for pregnant women. In both studies, a study description appeared on the home screen of a pregnancy application. Interested women were directed to a secure research website to enroll. Enrollment goals were rapidly exceeded. Both studies enrolled participants from across the USA. Demographic diversity was achieved by one study. Mobile health applications are innovative venues for recruiting research participants.

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Acknowledgements

The authors recognize the following individuals who commented on earlier drafts of this manuscript: Alberto Segre, Christina Cobb, and Danielle Bradley (Ovia Health); Diana Colgan (Editor, College of Nursing); Ann Marie McCarthy, Maria Hein, Yelena Perkhounkova, Maria Hein, and Seyedehtanaz Saeidzadeh (College of Nursing Office of Research and Scholarship); and Sara O’Brien, J. Austin Williamson, and Graham Nelson (Milltown Writing Group).

Funding

The better life study was funded by the University of Iowa College of Nursing, NIH funded T32 Pain and Associated Symptoms Grant (NR11147) and Sigma Theta Tau International Gamma Chapter Research Grant. Funding for the REDCap support reported in this publication was provided by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (U54TR001356).

The Sunnyside was funded by NIMH R34MH10278 (Duffecy) and NIMH R34MH102469 (O’Hara).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Nursing, University of Iowa, 50 Newton Road, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA

    Julie Vignato & Lisa S. Segre

  2. Ovia Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Erin Landau

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Jennifer Duffecy

  4. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA

    Michael W. O’Hara

Authors
  1. Julie Vignato
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  2. Erin Landau
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  3. Jennifer Duffecy
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  4. Michael W. O’Hara
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  5. Lisa S. Segre
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa S. Segre.

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Conflict of interest

Julie Vignato, Jenna Duffecy, Michael O’Hara and Lisa Segre report no conflict of interests. Erin Landau is an employee of Ovia Health.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants enrolled in the studies.

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Vignato, J., Landau, E., Duffecy, J. et al. Using mobile health applications for the rapid recruitment of perinatal women. Arch Womens Ment Health 22, 305–308 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-018-0894-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-018-0894-2

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