Using Social Influence Strategies to Improve Rates of Online Mental Health Survey Participation: Results from Two Experiments.
Gavin N Rackoff, Lawrence T Monocello, Lauren A Fowler, Melissa M Vázquez, Jillian Shah, Ellen E Fitzsimmons-Craft, C Barr Taylor, Daniel Eisenberg, Denise E Wilfley, Michelle G Newman
Author Information
Gavin N Rackoff: Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
Lawrence T Monocello: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.
Lauren A Fowler: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.
Melissa M Vázquez: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.
Jillian Shah: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.
Ellen E Fitzsimmons-Craft: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.
C Barr Taylor: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
Daniel Eisenberg: Department of Health Policy and Management, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
Denise E Wilfley: Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO.
Michelle G Newman: Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
Online surveys are routinely used in mental health screening and treatment follow-up assessment, though they can yield low response rates. We tested the effects of social psychology-informed influence strategies for increasing rates of participation in an online mental health screening survey (Experiment 1) and a treatment follow-up survey (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1 ( = 45,569), embedding one or any combination of three motivational appeals (personal gain, community gain, and inclusivity) in screening survey invitation and reminder emails unexpectedly led to lower rates of survey participation compared to when the appeals were not included (overall participation rate = 12.02%, ORs = 0.75 to 0.97, s < .001). In Experiment 2 ( = 873), a video of a TikTok influencer encouraging survey participation embedded in treatment follow-up survey invitation and reminder emails did not significantly affect survey completion compared to a humorous gif unrelated to survey participation (overall participation rate = 47.88%, OR = 1.18, = .200). Moderator analyses revealed that the video led to higher rates of participation than the gif among White participants (OR = 1.39, = .031) and non-Hispanic participants (OR = 1.35, = .029) only, whereas the video led to lower rates of participation than the gif among students who did not disclose their race (OR = 0.31, = .010). Results suggested that efforts to improve online survey participation should be balanced with possible downsides (e.g., added email length) and should be evaluated for differential performance among population subgroups prior to widespread implementation.
