"Infantgram?" recruitment of infants to a clinical sleep study via social media.

Study Objectives: This study aimed to outline the strategy and outcomes of a study team in recruiting participants for an infant sleep study via social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, to assess the feasibility of recruitment via social media, and to quantitatively and qualitatively explore parental satisfaction and perceptions of recruitment via social media. Methods: The assessing sleep in infants with early-onset atopic dermatitis by longitudinal evaluation (SPINDLE) study recruited infants with and without atopic dermatitis for a longitudinal study assessing sleep. Infants were recruited via social media and their parents were interviewed to explore their experience of recruitment via social media. Results: In total, 57 controls and 33 cases were recruited. Of the 45 controls recruited via social media, 43 (95.6%) were recruited via Instagram and 2 (4.4%) were recruited via Twitter. Of the seven cases recruited via social media, 6 (85.7%) were recruited via Facebook (via sharing of Instagram posts by third parties on Facebook) and 1 (14.3%) was recruited via Instagram. All (100%, Conclusions: Our experience highlights parents' acceptance of recruitment via social media, the optimization of time and financial resources, and the benefit of using internet-based recruitment during a pandemic.