Characteristics of a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Sample Recruited Using Amazon's Mechanical Turk

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Several barriers exist in the recruitment of individuals with a history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The current study is the first to examine whether crowdsourcing, which has been used in other clinical populations, is useful in the recruitment of those with mTBI. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk), an online crowdsourcing platform, is a useful tool in the recruitment of individuals with a history of mTBI and to examine the injury and psychological characteristics of individuals who report a history of mTBI. DESIGN: Retrospective, cross-sectional study. SETTING: Online. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 468 MTurk workers (215 who reported mTBI history on the screener, 253 who did not). METHODS: Comparison of MTurk participants ("workers") who report a history of mTBI on a one-item screener and/or a more comprehensive mTBI assessment tool (ie, the Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Identification Method [OSU TBI-ID]) with workers who do not report mTBI history. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence rates of mTBI in the MTurk sample (one-item screener and/or OSU TBI-ID), associations between self-reported mTBI with history of psychological disorders and current psychological symptoms (ie, selected Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System scales). RESULTS: Of workers who reported a history of mTBI on the screener, 169 (79%) met mTBI criteria on the OSU TBI-ID. Compared with those who denied history of mTBI on both the screener and OSU TBI-ID, workers who reported a history of mTBI on both measures were more likely to have a history of diagnosed depression (P = .008), anxiety (P = .007) or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (P = .04), and were more likely to currently experience cognitive (P = .01) and sleep disorder symptoms (P = .003). CONCLUSIONS: Workers recruited via MTurk with history of mTBI show similar rates of psychological disorder history and current symptoms to samples recruited via noncrowdsourcing methods in previous studies. MTurk may be a useful recruitment tool in the mTBI population and should be used in future studies of outcomes after mTBI. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III.

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