February 2019

As indicated in Organization Policy 111.13 “Recruitment of Study Subjects”

“All advertising or other recruitment material must be reviewed and approved by the JHM IRB before they are used.  Flyers and other advertising materials must be marked as approved by the JHM IRB before distribution or posting.  Letters to potential participants must be submitted to JHM IRB for review and approval prior to mailing.”

This policy applies to all documents uploaded to the eIRB application under “Recruitment Information” (currently Section 13) as well as all other documents that require an IRB approval stamp.* This may include, but is not limited to: flyers, posters, letters to potential participants, social media advertisements, scripts for radio or television advertisements, and story boards for television or video advertisements. (Please see policy 111.13 for more information regarding requirements / limitations for recruitment of study subjects.)

(* See exceptions and specific process below for recruitment materials to be posted using JHM Digital Signage.)

To indicate IRB approval of recruitment documents, a “stamped” copy of the recruitment document will be uploaded to the eIRB application upon approval. This approval stamp will be placed in the top left corner of the recruitment document using an Auto Stamping function. The IRB will not accommodate requests to move the approval stamp from the top left corner to another location within the document.

To accommodate placement of the approval stamp, a 1.5 inch margin must be left at the top of the document. The margin should remain blank and this section of the document should have a white (or very light in color) background so the stamp and date will be visible. Documents that do not have a 1.5 inch margin in the top left corner will have some content concealed by the IRB approval stamp. Additionally, recruitment documents submitted to the IRB must be submitted as either an MS Word or a PDF document to facilitate stamping. If documents are created in a format other than MS Word or a PDF, the documents must be converted to one of these formats prior to submitting them for review. Documents submitted in a format other than MS Word or PDF will be returned for conversion.

Recruitment Materials to Be Posted Using JHM Digital Signage

In order to make use of Digital Signage services in JHM facilities for recruitment advertising, a specific format will be required.  See link here for the Digital Signage Power Point template meeting the required specifications.  Additionally, there will be a different process for the review of these ads, as they will require approval both by Digital Signage and by the JHM IRBs.  Investigators should follow these steps:

1. Requests must first be submitted to JHM Digital Signage using the form linked here before submission to the IRB.  For questions or guidance, you may contact Steve Seebode at JHM Digital Signage ([email protected]).
2. After working with JHM Digital Signage to design your ad in way that is compatible with its formatting requirements, upload the final version into the “Recruitment Information” section of the eIRB application with any other recruitment materials you will be submitting to the IRB for approval.  This must be a PDF version and the file name should clearly indicate that it is a “JHM Digital Signage Ad.”
3. Once the IRB has approved your new or Change in Research application and your Digital Signage ad, communicate to JHM Digital Signage that the IRB has approved and your ad will be posted.  If the IRB requires changes to the proposed ad for any reason, please be aware that you will need to submit any revisions to both JHM Digital Signage and the IRB, repeating this process.