Design and implementation of a health messaging protocol employed for use within a COVID-19 health dissemination platform

Colombo, P.M.; Freylersythe, S.; Sprinkle, M.M.; Ernst, K.C.; Yubeta, M.; Barbati, J.L.; Merchant, N.; Iyengar, S.; Crane, T.E.; Oxnam, M.; Rains, S.A.

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Author

Colombo, P.M.
Freylersythe, S.
Sprinkle, M.M.
Ernst, K.C.
Yubeta, M.
Barbati, J.L.
Merchant, N.
Iyengar, S.
Crane, T.E.
Oxnam, M.

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Affiliation

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of Arizona
The University of Arizona Cancer Center
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine
BIO5 Institute, The University of Arizona
Department of Communication, The University of Arizona
Data Science Institute, The University of Arizona

Issue Date

2022-11-24

Citation

Colombo PM, Freylersythe S, Sprinkle MM, Ernst KC, Yubeta M, Barbati JL, Merchant N, Iyengar S, Crane TE, Oxnam M and Rains SA (2022) Design and implementation of a health messaging protocol employed for use within a COVID-19 health dissemination platform. Front. Public Health 10:942795.

Journal

Frontiers in Public Health

Rights

© 2022 Colombo, Freylersythe, Sprinkle, Ernst, Yubeta, Barbati, Merchant, Iyengar, Crane, Oxnam and Rains. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

Collection Information

This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.

Abstract

Introduction: AZCOVIDTXT, a bilingual, two-way information sharing platform was created in April of 2020 in response to rising COVID-19 cases in Arizona. The aim of this paper is to delineate the protocol and processes used to develop and disseminate health messaging to serve as guidance for other groups, universities, or public health programs in the implementation or enhancement of health communication services. Methods: Health messaging formats included website articles, published on the system's website (azcovidtxt.org), infographics posted on social media, and SMS. Social media and SMS infographics were intended to highlight and augment the topics covered in the weekly website articles, to create a seamless multimodal source of reliable COVID-19 information for AZCOVIDTXT enrollees and the broader public. All health messaging information, text message and social media content was planned and reviewed collaboratively by the AZCOVIDTXT team topic experts for accuracy, efficacy, and content consistency. Results: As of July 2021, AZCOVIDTXT provided weekly COVID-19-related health communication to 3,747 participating households located across 225 Arizona zip codes. AZCOVIDTXT has developed and sent 446 unique, bilingual SMS for a total of 271,977 contact points. The team has produced and published 179 website articles, which averaged a combined 7,000-page views per month, and 173 social media posts were made available to 268 followers across three platforms. Discussion: Several programmatic aspects were deemed essential to the success of AZCOVIDTXT. These included (1) addressing community specific needs, (2) creating timely and relevant content, (3) developing an adaptable system, and (4) prioritizing system automation where possible, (5) having an interdisciplinary team approach to identifying and crafting key messages. Copyright © 2022 Colombo, Freylersythe, Sprinkle, Ernst, Yubeta, Barbati, Merchant, Iyengar, Crane, Oxnam and Rains.

Note

Open access journal

ISSN

2296-2565

PubMed ID

36504998

DOI

10.3389/fpubh.2022.942795

Version

Final published version

Collections

UA Faculty Publications

© 2022 Colombo, Freylersythe, Sprinkle, Ernst, Yubeta, Barbati, Merchant, Iyengar, Crane, Oxnam and Rains. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as © 2022 Colombo, Freylersythe, Sprinkle, Ernst, Yubeta, Barbati, Merchant, Iyengar, Crane, Oxnam and Rains. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).