Understanding How Different Recruitment Strategies Impact Parent Engagement With an iPad-Based Intervention to Provide Personalized Information About Adolescent Vaccines

PurposeInadequate provider time for addressing parents' questions and concerns about adolescent vaccines is a barrier to vaccine utilization. We sought to determine how different recruitment strategies impact the degree of engagement with an intervention that provided this information via an iPad placed in a clinical setting.MethodsWe provided to three pediatric practices in the Denver area the “Teen VaxScene” web site that generates individually customized information for parents about adolescent vaccines. Three recruitment strategies were assessed for their impact on parental use of the intervention as follows: passive recruitment using posters to advertise a “kiosk” version of the intervention; posters plus a $10 incentive for using the kiosk; and posters plus a $10 incentive plus decoupling the iPad from the kiosks to enable “roving.” We assessed the engagement with the intervention at multiple levels including log in, consent, and completion of a baseline survey and viewing individually tailored web pages. Surveys were used to assess barriers to using the intervention.ResultsDuring the 14-month study period, 693 people had contact with the iPad, 199 consented, and 48 completed the survey to enable creation of tailored content; and 42 used the tailored site. Five times as many parents (n = 40) consented to participation during the 2 months when the intervention was “roving” than during the 10-month “passive” recruitment period. Engagement with the tailored material was low, with most users viewing only the “table of contents” pages. Utilizers and nonutilizers of the intervention had similar demographic characteristics.ConclusionsEnabling the iPad to “rove” in the clinic greatly increased the proportion of parents consenting to use the intervention. However, meaningful engagement with the material was low. Further research is needed to understand the most effective and time efficient ways to provide vaccine-related educational information to parents of adolescents.