Clinical Trials And Social Media: Friends Or Foes?

By Lindsay McNair, MD, MPH, MSB, Chief Medical Officer, WCG

For clinical trial participants, forming bonds with other participants online can increase the feeling of community, and enhance the sense of recognition for their contribution to the important science being conducted. These positive effects may improve study retention, and perhaps even increase study enrollment, by encouraging others to participate in the same way. But interactions between clinical trial participants can have potentially negative effects on the study as well.