Aisling Gough|Ruth F. Hunter|Oluwaseun Ajao|Anna Jurek|Gary McKeown|Jun Hong|Eimear Barrett|Marbeth Ferguson|Gerry McElwee|Miriam McCarthy|Frank Kee
Tweet for Behavior Change: Using Social Media for the Dissemination of Public Health Messages
Queen's University Belfast|Queen's University Belfast|Queen's University Belfast|Queen's University Belfast|Queen's University Belfast|Queen's University Belfast|Queen's University Belfast|Cancer Focus Northern Ireland|Cancer Focus Northern Ireland|Public Health Agency|Queen's University Belfast
social media public health campaigns advantage tailored messaging low cost large reach little known would determine feasibility tools inducing attitude behavior changethe aim study test feasibility designing implementing evaluating social mediaenabled intervention skin cancer preventiona quasiexperimental feasibility study used social media twitter disseminate different message frames related care sun cancer prevention phase 1 utilized northern ireland cancer charitys twitter platform may 1 july 14 2015 following 2week washout period phase 2 commenced august 1 september 30 2015 using bespoke twitter platform phase 2 also included thunderclap whereby users allowed social media accounts automatically post bespoke message behalf message frames categorized 5 broad categories humor shock disgust informative personal stories opportunistic seed users notable following contacted influencers retweeting campaign content pre postintervention webbased survey recorded skin cancer prevention knowledge attitudes northern ireland population 18 millionthere total 417678 tweet impressions 11213 engagements 1211 retweets related campaign shocking messages generated greatest impressions shock n2369 informative n2258 humorous n1458 story n1680 whereas humorous messages generated greater engagement humorous n148 shock n147 story n117 informative n100 greater engagement rates compared story tweets informative messages resulted greatest number shares informative n17 humorous n10 shock n9 story n7 study findings included improved knowledge skin cancer severity pre postintervention webbased survey greater awareness skin cancer common form cancer preintervention 284 95335 vs postintervention 393 168428 answered true melanoma serious 491 165336 vs 555 238429 results also show improved attitudes toward ultraviolet uv exposure skin cancer reduction agreement respondents like tan 605 202334 vs 556 238428social mediadisseminated public health messages reached 23 northern ireland population webbased survey suggested campaign might contributed improved knowledge attitudes toward skin cancer among target population findings suggested shocking humorous messages generated greatest impressions engagement informationbased messages likely shared extent behavioral change result campaign remains explored however change attitudes knowledge promising social media inexpensive effective method delivering public health messages however existing traditional process evaluation methods may suitable social media