Recruitment in mental health research is challenging, as some disorders such as depression or schizophrenia may involve vulnerable participants that lack motivation as part of their illness. A mental health diagnosis can be stigmatising, so privacy and access to hospital-based patient cohorts is carefully controlled. Our team describe a pragmatic portal recruitment process for facilitating timely recruitment into multiple research studies focusing on mental health. Three factors were analysed; evaluating the success and impact of this novel recruitment process; identification of patterns in recruitment to better target participants; and provision of metrics of the different media formats engaged. A web-based recruitment portal was developed by the research team in collaboration with the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) Consumer & Carer Research Advisory Group. A comprehensive marketing campaign was then undertaken to direct participants towards the portal. Recruitment insights from the dates and times of registration across a two-year period is provided. In total, 933 potential participants registered with the recruitment portal across a two-year period at a cost of approximately $10,000. The advertisement campaign linked to the portal page enabled 506 participants to register in just one week. The area of research was self-selected by the potential participants, then eligibility was followed up with telephone and face to face interviews. Of the total 933 people who registered 706 (76%) expressed an interest in the target clinical depression study, 119 (13%) opted to be clinical controls, and the remainder chose one of the alternative studies. 240 (26%) of those who registered were excluded through telephone interviews because they fell outside of the strict eligibility criterion. We learnt that 77% (n = 723/933) of participants were recruited within seven days of promotional events, providing an interesting pattern of recruitment that may assist future recruitment design.

中文翻译：

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使用行为改变理论为精神卫生研究环境中的创新数字招聘策略提供信息。

心理健康研究的招聘具有挑战性，因为某些疾病（例如抑郁症或精神分裂症）可能涉及脆弱的参与者，他们缺乏动力作为疾病的一部分。心理健康诊断可能会令人感到耻辱，因此必须谨慎控制隐私和对基于医院的患者队列的访问。我们的团队描述了一个实用的门户招募过程，以促进及时招募到专注于心理健康的多个研究中。分析了三个因素：评估这种新颖的招聘过程的成功和影响；确定招募方式，以更好地瞄准参与者；以及提供不同媒体格式的指标。研究团队与南澳大利亚健康与医学研究所（SAHMRI）消费者与护理者研究咨询小组合作，开发了一个基于网络的招聘门户。然后进行了全面的营销活动，将参与者引导到门户。提供了两年期间注册日期和时间的招聘见解。在两年内，总共有933名潜在参与者在招聘门户网站上注册，费用约为10,000美元。链接到门户页面的广告活动使506名参与者能够在短短一周内注册。研究领域是由潜在参与者自行选择的，然后通过电话和面对面访谈来跟踪研究资格。在总共933人中，有706人（76％）表示对目标临床抑郁症研究感兴趣，其中119人（13％）选择了临床对照，其余人选择了其中一项替代研究。由于不符合严格的资格标准，有240名（26％）的注册人被电话访问排除在外。我们了解到，在促销活动的7天内，有77％（n = 723/933）的参与者被招募，这提供了一种有趣的招募方式，可以帮助将来的招募设计。