Assessing Message Deployment During Public Health Emergencies Through Social Media: Empirical Test of Optimizing Content for Effective Dissemination.

BACKGROUND: During an infodemic, timely, reliable, and accessible information is crucial to combat the proliferation of health misinformation. While message testing can provide vital information to make data-informed decisions, traditional methods tend to be time- and resource-intensive. Recognizing this need, we developed the rapid message testing at scale (RMTS) approach to allow communicators to repurpose existing social media advertising tools and understand the full spectrum of audience engagement. OBJECTIVE: We had two main objectives: (1) to demonstrate the use of the RMTS approach for message testing, especially when resources and time are limited, and (2) to propose and test the efficacy of an outcome variable that measures engagement along a continuum of viewing experience. METHODS: We developed 12 versions of a single video created for a vaccine confidence project in India. We manipulated video length, aspect ratio, and use of subtitles. The videos were tested across 4 demographic groups (women or men, younger or older). We assessed user engagement along a continuum of viewing experience: obtaining attention, sustaining attention, conveying the message, and inspiring action. These were measured by the percentage of video watched and clicks on the call-to-action link. RESULTS: The video advertisements were placed on Facebook for over 4 consecutive days at the cost of US $450 and garnered a total of 3.34 million impressions. Overall, we found that the best-performing video was the shorter version in portrait aspect ratio and without subtitles. There was a significant but small association between the length of the video and users' level of engagement at key points along the continuum of viewing experience (N=1,032,888; χ24=48,261.97; P<.001; V=.22). We found that for the longer video, those with subtitles held viewers longer after 25% video watch time than those without subtitles (n=15,597; χ21=7.33; P=.007; V=.02). While we found some significant associations between the aspect ratio, the use of subtitles, and the number of users watching the video and clicking on the call-to-action link, the effect size for those were extremely small. CONCLUSIONS: This test served as a proof of concept for the RMTS approach. We obtained rapid feedback on formal message attributes from a very large sample. The results of this test reinforce the need for platform-specific tailoring of communications. While our data showed a general preference for a short video in portrait orientation and without subtitles among our target audiences on Facebook, that may not necessarily be the case in other social media platforms such as YouTube or TikTok, where users go primarily to watch videos. RMTS testing highlights nuances that communication professionals can address instead of being limited to a "one size fits all" approach.

Production of vaccination videos in India: learnings from a science-art partnership.

BACKGROUND: Cross-cultural communication, often conceptualized along culture and language dimensions, is an important issue for collaborative teams that include both scientists and artists. Such teams must balance the standardization needs of rigorous scientific methods, on the one hand, with openness for artistic creativity, on the other. The scientific literature does not provide clear guidance on how to structure such collaborations. DISCUSSION: We created eight videos manipulating the type of appeal, message tone, and gender of the vaccine promoter in a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment. The four stages of the filmmaking process were 1) conceptualizing filmmaking and script writing through a scientific lens, 2) pilot testing and finalizing the script, 3) video production and editing, and 4) dissemination. We describe the process and learnings from a collaboration that included filmmakers, researchers, and vaccine experts from India and the United States in producing, disseminating, and evaluating videos that promoted vaccine uptake in Odisha, India. CONCLUSIONS: When projects require close collaborations between scientists and artists, committing to a unified vision is essential for facilitating open, bidirectional communication and building trust between the partners. Clearly denoting research boundaries ensures that the scientific needs of the project are met while simultaneously welcoming space for the filmmakers' creativity, fostering a sense of ownership, and enhancing the final product.

Unpacking Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status in Children's Health Research from an Environmental Justice Perspective: A Scoping Review.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Clearly defining and measuring neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES) is a key first step in achieving environmental justice, as the disproportionate distribution of environmental hazards and access to resources is heavily influenced by socioeconomic factors. This scoping review explores the definition of neighborhoods, measurement of neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES), and studies that evaluated the association between nSES and child health in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. RECENT FINDINGS: We identified 4112 articles published on US pediatric populations between 2013 and 2022. We identified 170 distinct indicators across seven broad domains of nSES used to create 121 different measures of nSES across the 206 publications included in this review. While there is considerable interest in nSES and children's health, there is also substantial variation in the measurement of neighborhood as a geographic unit and nSES as a construct. We observed methodological challenges related to the identification of neighborhood boundaries, indicator selection, and nSES measure definition(s). We discuss common pitfalls in neighborhood research that can complicate identifying, targeting, and resolving environmental injustices. Lastly, we put forward a series of recommendations to reduce measurement error and improve inference, in addition to reporting recommendations for neighborhoods and health research that can aid in improving our understanding of pathways between neighborhood context and child health, inform policy development, and allocate resources to achieve environmental justice.

Perceived Barriers to Climate Change Activism Behaviors in the United States Among Individuals Highly Concerned about Climate Change.

BACKGROUND: There is a tremendous gap between the proportion of the population expressing concern about climate change and those engaged in climate change activism. We examined barriers to climate change activism among respondents stating climate change was an important issue to them. METHODS: Participants in a national online longitudinal study reported on 12 reasons for lack of involvement in climate change actions. Five months later, engagement in six climate change actions was assessed. The primary analyses focused on the 319 respondents who, out of 592 respondents who participated in both surveys, reported that the issue of global warming was extremely or very important to them. RESULTS: Participants showed a range of engagement in climate change activism behaviors: 29.8% donated money to an organization to reduce climate change, 32.3% signed a petition, 69.0% voted for candidates who support measures to reduce climate change, 11.9% wrote letters, e-mailed, or phoned government officials to urge them to take action, and 9.4% volunteered with organizations working to curb climate change. The median number of barriers was 5. The most frequent reasons for lack of involvement in climate change activism were other people are better at it (57.4%), hadn't been trained (56.7%), hadn't been asked (50.8%), not knowing how to get involved (49.8%), activities like letter writing not appealing (49.8%), too busy (38.9%), organizations would ask them for money (39.8%), and not encouraged to become involved (38.2%). Several barriers were associated with engagement in climate change activism five months later. The most consistent association with activism was with talking about climate change in the prior month. CONCLUSION: Most respondents cited several barriers that impeded their involvement in climate change activism. Select barriers were associated with reduced engagement in activism. Organizations that address climate change should acknowledge barriers but emphasize that individuals can engage in climate change activism regardless of barriers.

Social network analysis of COVID-19 vaccine YouTube videos in Odisha, India: mapping the channel network and analyzing comment sentiment.

India has reported more than 35 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and nearly half a million cumulative deaths. Although vaccination rates for the first vaccine dose are quite high, one-third of the population has not received a second shot. Due to its widespread use and popularity, social media can play a vital role in enhancing vaccine acceptance. This study in a real-world setting utilizes YouTube videos in Odisha, India where the platform has deep penetration among the 18-35 target population, and secondarily their family and peers. Two contrasting videos were launched on the YouTube platform to examine how those videos operate within the broader recommender and subscription systems that determine the audience reach. Video analytics, algorithms for recommended videos, visual representation of connections created, centrality between the networks, and comment analysis was conducted. The results indicate that the video with a non-humorous tone and collectivistic appeal delivered by a female protagonist performed best with regard to views and time spent watching the videos. The results are of significance to health communicators who seek to better understand the platform mechanisms that determine the spread of videos and measures of viewer reactions based on viewer sentiment.

Promoting Vaccination in India through Videos: The Role of Humor, Collectivistic Appeal and Gender.

Vaccination hesitancy is a barrier to India's efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Considerable resources have been spent to promote COVID-19 vaccination, but evaluations of such efforts are sparse. Our objective was to determine how vaccine videos that manipulate message appeal (collectivistic versus individualistic), tone (humorous versus serious), and source (male versus female protagonist) toward vaccines and vaccination. We developed eight videos that manipulated the type of appeal (collectivistic or individualistic), tone of the message (humor or serious), and gender of the vaccine promoter (male or female) in a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment. Participants (N = 2349) were randomly assigned to watch one of eight videos in an online experiment. Beliefs about vaccines and those about vaccination were obtained before and after viewing the video. Manipulation checks demonstrated that each of the three independent variables was manipulated successfully. After exposure to the video, beliefs about vaccines became more negative, while beliefs about vaccination became more positive. Humor reduced negative beliefs about vaccines. Collectivism and protagonist gender did not affect beliefs about vaccines or vaccination. Those able to remember the protagonist's gender (a measure of attention) were likely to develop favorable beliefs if they had also seen the humorous videos. These findings suggest that people distinguish beliefs about vaccines, which deteriorated after exposure to the videos, from beliefs about vaccination, which improved. We recommend using humor when appropriate and focusing on the outcomes of vaccination, rather than on the vaccines themselves.

Creation, dissemination, and evaluation of videos to promote COVID-19 vaccination in India: A research protocol.

Background: Vaccine hesitancy is one of the greatest challenges to the success of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination campaigns. Videos promoting vaccines have a narrow scope focusing solely on facts, and less on the emotional and narrative elements of communication that can be equally persuasive. The role of humor, for example, has remained largely unexplored.   Objective: This study investigates whether theory-based videos can change people's attitudes, beliefs, and intentions to receive the second COVID-19 vaccine. Our primary research question is: How do collectivistic and individualistic appeals, humor, and protagonist gender individually and jointly affect vaccination attitudes, beliefs, and intentions?   Methods: This project tapped into the underutilized Indian film industry-the world's largest film producer-to promote vaccination messaging through short videos. Feedback from a community advisory board was utilized to inform the video scripts that were then shot by a production team. Eight videos were filmed and shared by adopting a 2 (appeal: individualistic or collectivistic) x 2 (tone: humor or non-humor) x 2 (protagonist gender: male or female) between-subjects design approach. Our sample includes Odia-speaking participants aged between 18 - 35 years old randomly assigned to watch one of the eight study videos. An online survey questionnaire, social media network analysis, and small group qualitative interviews will be utilized to explore how the entertainment-education videos can be used to reduce vaccine hesitancy.  Discussion: Vaccine messages do not fall into a cultural or cognitive vacuum. People process and make sense of information based on their prior experience, properties of the message, and their social environment. Yet, these considerations have taken secondary importance in vaccine communications. This research shows that it is possible to deliver high-caliber videos created in accordance with the audience's cultural and cognitive background.   Conclusions: This study will inform future health promotion messaging through brief videos on the internet.