Effectiveness of a Mayan Language Social Media Campaign on COVID-19 Vaccine Beliefs in Guatemala

Effectiveness of a Mayan Language Social Media Campaign on COVID-19 Vaccine

Prior evidence, including formative work supporting the development of this study, suggests there is widespread vaccine hesitancy among Indigenous communities in Guatemala, fueled by mistrust in the health system, lack of official information, and the circulation of myths and misinformation. We will test the effectiveness of a video-based social media campaign that provides a basic overview of the science behind COVID-19 vaccines and addresses prevalent myths and misinformation being shared in target communities. A series of animated videos will be promoted through Facebook Ads and randomized at the individual level across Facebook users throughout the entire country. To investigate the effectiveness of Mayan language content, we are testing three treatment arms - visually identical videos in the 1) Spanish language, 2) K'iche' language, and 3) Kaqchikel language. Our primary outcomes are responses to two attitudinal questions collected via Facebook polling: 1) How safe do you think a COVID-19 vaccine is for people like you? (options: very safe, somewhat safe, barely safe, not safe, don't know); and 2) When you think of most people whose opinion you value, how much would they approve of people getting a COVID-19 vaccine? (options: definitely approve, mostly approve, somewhat approve, not at all approve, don't know). We will measure effects of the three treatment arms across Spanish speakers (including K'iche' and Kaqchikel speakers who also speak Spanish). We will also measure the effectiveness of K'iche vs. Spanish content among K'iche speakers and Kaqchikel vs. Spanish content for Kaqchikel speakers.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Vaccination Refusal
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: COVID-19 vaccine social media campaign exposure

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 5000
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Guatemala
  • Tecpán Guatemala, Guatemala
    • Wuqu' Kawoq - Maya Health Alliance

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• The intervention will be delivered through the Facebook Ads platform. Intervention content will be promoted to Facebook Users throughout the entire country of Guatemala. K'iche' content will be targeted only in departments where the K'iche' language is primarily spoken. Kaqchikel content will be targeted only in departments where the Kaqchikel language is primarily spoken.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Only adult Facebook users of age 18 will be included. Users under age 18 are excluded.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Spanish language content; Social media campaign content with Spanish language voiceover	Other: COVID-19 vaccine social media campaign exposure; A series of animated video clips will be promoted through Facebook Ads and randomized at the individual level across Facebook users throughout the entire country. To investigate the effectiveness of Mayan language content, we are testing three treatment arms - visually identical videos in the 1) Spanish, 2) K'iche', and 3) Kaqchikel languages. The videos are visually identical and follow the same audio script, translated into the three focal language. Local voiceover artists were used to record the scripts in the three languages. A control group that is not exposed to any of the social media campaign content will serve as active comparator to allow for comparison of outcomes with treatment arms.
Experimental: K'iche' language content; Social media campaign content with K'iche' language voiceover	Other: COVID-19 vaccine social media campaign exposure; A series of animated video clips will be promoted through Facebook Ads and randomized at the individual level across Facebook users throughout the entire country. To investigate the effectiveness of Mayan language content, we are testing three treatment arms - visually identical videos in the 1) Spanish, 2) K'iche', and 3) Kaqchikel languages. The videos are visually identical and follow the same audio script, translated into the three focal language. Local voiceover artists were used to record the scripts in the three languages. A control group that is not exposed to any of the social media campaign content will serve as active comparator to allow for comparison of outcomes with treatment arms.
Experimental: Kaqchikel language content; Social media campaign content with Kaqchikel language voiceover	Other: COVID-19 vaccine social media campaign exposure; A series of animated video clips will be promoted through Facebook Ads and randomized at the individual level across Facebook users throughout the entire country. To investigate the effectiveness of Mayan language content, we are testing three treatment arms - visually identical videos in the 1) Spanish, 2) K'iche', and 3) Kaqchikel languages. The videos are visually identical and follow the same audio script, translated into the three focal language. Local voiceover artists were used to record the scripts in the three languages. A control group that is not exposed to any of the social media campaign content will serve as active comparator to allow for comparison of outcomes with treatment arms.
Active Comparator: Control; A control group that is not exposed to any of the social media campaign content will serve as control to allow for comparison of outcomes with treatment arms.	Other: COVID-19 vaccine social media campaign exposure; A series of animated video clips will be promoted through Facebook Ads and randomized at the individual level across Facebook users throughout the entire country. To investigate the effectiveness of Mayan language content, we are testing three treatment arms - visually identical videos in the 1) Spanish, 2) K'iche', and 3) Kaqchikel languages. The videos are visually identical and follow the same audio script, translated into the three focal language. Local voiceover artists were used to record the scripts in the three languages. A control group that is not exposed to any of the social media campaign content will serve as active comparator to allow for comparison of outcomes with treatment arms.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Beliefs about COVID-19 vaccine safety	Our primary outcomes are responses to two attitudinal questions collected via Facebook polling. This outcome is response to the question: How safe do you think a COVID-19 vaccine is for people like you? (options: very safe, somewhat safe, barely safe, not safe, don't know).	4 weeks
Beliefs about COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among social network	Our primary outcomes are responses to two attitudinal questions collected via Facebook polling. This outcome is response to the question: When you think of most people whose opinion you value, how much would they approve of people getting a COVID-19 vaccine? (options: definitely approve, mostly approve, somewhat approve, not at all approve, don't know).	4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Stanford University
• Collaborators: University of California, San Francisco; Wuqu' Kawoq, Maya Health Alliance

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 14, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 4, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): April 4, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: February 21, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 21, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): February 23, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 7, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 5, 2022
• Last Verified: April 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 63193

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No