(P27-028-25) Recruitment of Participants in the Baby-Feed Online Trial: A Web-Application for Caregivers to Improve and Monitor Diet and Growth in the First Year of Life

Objectives: This paper analyzes the recruitment for the Baby-Feed Online Trial.

Methods: The Baby-Feed Online Trial is an educational intervention using a web-application for caregivers to monitor and improve their infant’s diet and growth. Caregivers of infants aged 1-4 months were recruited mainly using social media posts and blast emails to FIU alumni, but also included distributed flyers and incentivized snowball referrals. All methods led to a Qualtrics pre-screening to assess eligibility. We analyzed the number of pre-screenings completed by recruitment method, their socio-demographics, and issues with bots. The FIU-IRB approved the study.

Results: Recruitment occurred from April to October 2024, with 1,213 pre-screenings. A total of 84% were identified as bots or international submissions, which led to implementation of additional Qualtrics security tools A total of 189 pre-screenings were considered valid, but before advancing to consent, a phone call occurred to confirm eligibility, in which 155 were enrolled and randomized. 26% came from our incentivized snowball referrals, 20% from an enrolled participant’s social media site, 16% from emails, 12% referrals from the research team, 10% from a health care provider social media posting, and the rest from other sources. From enrolled participants, 95.5% were mothers, 9.7% were WIC participants, 7.7% Asian, 6.5% Black, 65.8% were White, 2.6% mixed, and 17.4% not specified race; 23.2% were Hispanics and 83% had a ³ bachelor’s degree

Conclusions: The most effective strategy to recruit participants was incentivized snowball referrals. Although an important challenge was the substantial number of bots, our recruitment strategy was effective in recruiting the sample size needed. This recruitment strategy enabled a diverse group of ethnicities, although education level was notably higher.

Funding Sources: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Pediatric Nutrition Practice Group