Recruitment
pain, arthrosis, knee pain, arthritis
OSTEOARTHRITIS, ARTHROSIS, ARTHRITIS
We recruited participants using paid Facebook advertisements. Facebook uses proprietary algorithms to target and deliver content to specific users by evaluating and scoring advertisements based on the user’s clicks on content within their feed. In addition, Facebook allows basic targeting based on age, gender, and location from an individual’s profile page. Using Facebook’s ability to target demographic groups, we directed our advertisements to men and women of at least 45 years of age, who reside in the contiguous United States (excludes Hawaii and Alaska). Facebook also allows additional ad targeting based on interests and activities. Thus, we set up our campaigns based on the following keywords: knee, knee pain, physical therapy, physical therapist, exercise, osteoarthritis, arthrosis, arthritis, and joint pain. When respondents clicked on the ad, they were directed to a Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap)–based screening form. REDCap is a secure web application for building and managing databases and is used to collect virtually any type of data.