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Regular use of marijuana during adolescence is linked to academic underachievement, mental health problems, and delinquency. There are concerns that increased use of marijuana among adults, especially among caregivers, may increase rates of youth marijuana use. The current qualitative study used content analysis to examine what messages caregivers convey to their children about marijuana use, whether caregivers perceive barriers to such communication, whether they disclose their own use, and level of interest in supports or caregiving resources. Participants were recruited through paid Facebook and Instagram ads. Several methods were employed to achieve a gender-balanced and diverse sample of caregivers with youth aged 8–16 years, living in states with legalized marijuana, and who reported regular marijuana use (N = 70). Caregivers completed an online questionnaire including open- and closed-ended responses about their communication with their children. Results indicated that most caregivers conveyed largely positive messages about marijuana to their children, including marijuana as medicine, natural, and conditionally acceptable to use. Negative messages included caregivers instructing their teen not to use marijuana and that marijuana use is bad and/or unhealthy for children/teens. The majority of caregivers disclosed their own use to their children, and generally did not endorse barriers to communication. Approximately half of caregivers identified a desire for more tangible and applicable communication skills based on scientific evidence to facilitate conversations with their children about marijuana. Implications are discussed for future preventive interventions for those who regularly use marijuana and are caregivers of teens. Highlights: Marijuana-using caregivers presented positive attitudes and beliefs about marijuana. Marijuana-using caregivers wanted more scientific information about how to parent in marijuana-positive environments. Facebook recruiting was fast and cost-effective for collecting data on marijuana-using caregivers. Facebook recruiting was flexible for collecting diverse samples of caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enrolling adolescents and young adults (AYAs) in psychosocial research studies during cancer treatment is challenging. Successful AYA study recruitment not specific to oncology patients supports social media network advertising and recruitment strategies. However, this brief report describes several challenges to recruiting an appropriate and credible anonymous sample while conducting Institutional Review Board-approved research using social media recruitment. Namely, ethical oversight impeded access to AYAs with cancer and monetary remuneration allured many noneligible AYA participants who accessed the online survey. Lessons learned from this study provide caution for researchers interested in a similar approach and illustrate ways to determine credibility of findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Illness blogs are a way seriously ill people communicate publicly about their illness journey. As communication about serious illness increases on social media, it is important to evaluate how this affects the family caregiver. However, identifying and accessing family caregivers remains challenging, especially via social media. Purpose: The aim of this article is to report the opportunities, challenges and lessons learned from using social media to recruit family caregivers. Methods: Recruitment methods included posting study invitations on illness blogs, advertising through Facebook and placing study fliers in the community. Results: Using social media to recruit was inexpensive and provided a wide geographical reach. One important finding was discovering the importance of using language in the recruitment materials that family caregivers could identify with to help deem themselves as eligible to participate in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]