Discussing COVID-19 Vaccines in Private Facebook Groups

Empathic Engagement With the COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitant in Private Facebook Groups

As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, a sizable proportion of the U.S. population remains unvaccinated and at high risk of death and serious illness from COVID-19. Vaccine hesitancy, fueled by the proliferation of vaccine misinformation on social media, is one factor contributing to lack of vaccination. Current attempts to overcome vaccine misinformation focus on correcting or debunking falsehoods. Although debunking strategies are important components to any public health campaign, communications must also address rationales for vaccine hesitancy that vary among individuals and communities, and directly address the gist of their concerns in an empathetic, non-judgmental manner. We will conduct a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of empathic, relationship-building interactions relative to standard provision of information on social media to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: COVID-19
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Gist messages on COVID-19 vaccination; Behavioral: COVID-19 vaccine information

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 508
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • District of Columbia
    • Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 20052
      • George Washington University

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:

• reside in the U.S.
• unvaccinated from COVID-19
• Use Facebook regularly (at least 1/day)

Exclusion Criteria:

• age <18 years
• do not reside in the U.S.
• vaccinated from COVID-19
• do not use Facebook regularly (at least 1/day)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Gist; Gist-based messages on COVID-19 vaccination and moderated group discussions in a private Facebook group	Behavioral: Gist messages on COVID-19 vaccination; Participants will receive gist-based messages on COVID-19 vaccines and have their concerns addressed by a group moderator
Placebo Comparator: Information; Link to Facebook COVID-19 Information Center	Behavioral: COVID-19 vaccine information; Participants will receive a link to the Facebook COVID-19 Information Center via a private Facebook Group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Engagement and satisfaction with the program	Engagement includes participation in the Facebook group; satisfaction=self-rated overall satisfaction with the program (7-point scale)	4 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Proportion of participants getting the COVID-19 vaccine	self-reported vaccination status	4 weeks
Change in COVID-19 vaccination intention	Self-reported intention to get the COVID-19 vaccine (7-point scale)	4 weeks
Change in intention to encourage others to get the COVID-19 vaccine	Self-reported intention to encourage others to get the COVID-19 vaccine (7-point scale)	4 weeks
Change in COVID-19 vaccine confidence	Self-reported confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine (5-point scale)	4 weeks
Change in general vaccine confidence	Self-reported confidence in vaccines (7-point scale)	4 weeks
Change in vaccine hesitancy	Self-reported vaccine hesitancy (7-point scale	4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: George Washington University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 17, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 4, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): April 4, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 15, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 15, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): June 21, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 21, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 15, 2022
• Last Verified: June 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: social media; health behavior; vaccine hesitancy
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Virus Diseases; Infections; Respiratory Tract Infections; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Pneumonia, Viral; Pneumonia; Lung Diseases; COVID-19
• Other Study ID Numbers: NCR213861

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