Social Media Messages for Colorectal Cancer Screening

Overseen By Arlinda Ruco, MPH

Age: 18 - 65

Sex: Any

Trial Phase: Academic

Sponsor: Unity Health Toronto

No Placebo Group All trial participants will receive the active study treatment (no placebo)

Compensation: Varies

Number of Visits: Unknown

56000 Participants Needed

Trial Summary

What is the purpose of this trial?

Using social media for health promotion is an innovative and emerging approach but remains relatively unexplored in cancer screening. Uptake of colorectal cancer (CRC) screening remains low and standard methods of reaching out are expensive with limited impact. The objective of this study is to conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test the effectiveness of social media messages for CRC screening on screening intention (primary outcome). The results of this trial will be of interest to Ontario Health and are likely to be taken up by other screening programs looking for innovative and novel ways to increase screening participation. The study results will be easily translatable identifying the most compelling CRC screening messages while the approach can easily be translated to other cancer disease sites with screening programs.

Research Team

Nancy N. Baxter, MD, FRCSC, FACS, PhD

Principal Investigator

Unity Health Toronto

Eligibility Criteria

This trial is for Facebook users in Ontario who are over the age of 50. It's designed to see if certain social media messages can encourage people to get screened for colorectal cancer.

Inclusion Criteria

I am over 50 and use Facebook in Ontario.

Timeline

Screening

Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial

2-4 weeks

Intervention

Participants receive social media messages or no message (control) to test the effectiveness on screening intention

1 month

Follow-up

Participants' engagement metrics such as intention to screen, cost-per-click, click-through rates, number of likes, impressions, and comments are monitored

1 month

Treatment Details

Interventions

• Social Media Messages

Trial Overview The study is testing different social media messages about colorectal cancer screening. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive one of several tailored messages, and researchers will track if these lead to increased screening intentions.

Participant Groups

Group I: Arm #4 Active Control 1 Intervention

This arm will receive the fourth social media message that is preferred by our target population as identified from our previous focus group study.

Group II: Control Arm Active Control 1 Intervention

This arm will not receive any intervention.

Group III: Message #3 Active Control 1 Intervention

This arm will receive the third social media message that is preferred by our target population as identified from our previous focus group study.

Group IV: Tailored Arm Active Control 1 Intervention

This arm will receive social media messages that will be tailored by sex.

Group V: Message #1 Active Control 1 Intervention

This arm will receive one of five social media messages that is preferred by our target population through focus groups that are being conducted as part of a previous study.

Group VI: Message #2 Active Control 1 Intervention

This arm will receive the second social media message that is preferred by our target population as identified from our previous focus group study.

Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?

Unity Health Toronto

Lead Sponsor

Trials

572

Recruited

470,000+

Applied Health Research Centre

Collaborator

Trials

23

Recruited

70,900+

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Collaborator

Trials

1,417

Recruited

26,550,000+