Using Social and Mobile Media to Reach Teens

USING SOCIAL AND MOBILE MEDIA TO REACH TEENS

Ruth S. Buzi Peggy, B. Smith Baylor College of Medicine Teen Health Clinic Houston, Texas

PRESENTATION OBJECTIVES

1. Review interactive and electronic venues (mobile, social media, Internet) for client interaction and for promoting sexual health

2. Discuss the effectiveness of new technology used in patient education and communication

CLINICS’ MISSION

A system of 9 school, community, and hospital clinics in Houston Provide quality adolescent health care services

that are equal or better than the private sector Educate and train health care professionals Evaluate all programs

POPULATION SERVED

Female and male adolescents ages 13-23 years (males can be seen up to 25 and at any age as partners)

Majority are low-income Majority are African-American (50%) or

Hispanic (45%) A total of 10,000 unduplicated patients are

served annually 82% females and 18% males

COMPREHENSIVE CLINIC SERVICES

Family planning including STD screening and treatment

Prenatal care using the Centering Pregnancy Model

Primary care Individual counseling and crisis intervention Sports physicals Educational and employment services for young

fathers Routine Opt Out HIV Testing

THE PROBLEM

In 2011, 286 youth (people age 13 to 24) were diagnosed with HIV in Houston/Harris County.

This equates to 22.8% of all new HIV diagnoses in Houston/Harris County in that year.

Larger proportions of newly diagnosed youth were (1) African American (64.7% v. 52.1%) and (2) MSM (73.4% v. 60.8%).

WHY SOCIAL MEDIA?

Complement traditional communication Share information in new spaces Connect with new audiences Encourage engagement and interaction with

the content Empower people to make healthier and safer

decisions

TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS- GOALS

Encourage teens to modify their sexual risk behaviors, increase clinic utilization, reduce STI and pregnancy, and promote positive health behaviors.

CLINIC TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS

Upgraded Website (teenhealthclinic.org) Social Networking Sites Presence (Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat) Short Message Service that send out weekly

health education messages Web-based and Apps Outreach (Adam4Adam,

Grindr, Craigslist, Jack'D) Community awareness - 6th Annual Technology

Conference-June 10, 11, 2014

CLINIC TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS (CONT.)

Tiff and Ty are avatars used to communicate with website visitors who can email questions and receive a response within 24 hours

Online videos integrating health messages into age-appropriate scripts based on various behavioral change theories

Short films created by young people communicating messages about HIV prevention

WEBSITE AND SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

SMS

About 800 receive weekly messages Examples: Today is World’s AIDS Day. Please join us in the

fight against HIV/AIDS and continue to work towards an AIDS-free generation. Tiff Teen Clinic

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a time to build awareness towards safe and healthy relationships for all individuals. Tiff Teen Clinic

SMS EVALUATION

Focus groups were held with SMS recipients Participants indicated that the service is beneficial

and promotes awareness among teens about healthy sexual behaviors.

Recipients were also asked to send in their feedback about the service via SMS.

Example: “They are very useful. I take them into consideration and share them with my family and friends and use it in my everyday life.

ASK TIFF

Online portal for anonymous questions provides a way for teens receive immediate, accurate advice without the risk of embarrassment or rejection.

Electronic platforms also serve as a means for teens to engage in open dialogue about sexual issues in a non-threatening manner.

Responses of 626 users who contacted the clinic via email were analyzed

THEMATIC ANALYSIS ASK TIFF

Concerns about cost of the clinic’s services and testing for sexually transmitted infections.

Questions revealed lack basic sexual health knowledge and many common misconceptions.

Online question portals are effective venues for teens to quickly and anonymously obtain accurate information on sensitive issues.

WEB-BASED AND APPS OUTREACH

Total of 148 individuals contacted on Grindr in September, 17 total responses, a rate of 11.49%

AA, 12, 8%

White, 41, 28%

Latino, 68, 46%

Asian, 8, 5%

Mix/other, 19, 13%

Race/Ethnict Breakdown of Individuals Contacted

AA

White

Latino

Asian

Mix/other

AA, 1, 6%

White, 5, 29%

Latino, 9, 53%

Asian, 0, 0%

Mix/other, 2, 12%

Response to message

AA

White

Latino

Asian

Mix/other

SHORT FILMS CONTEST

Organized a media contest, encouraging patients and youth in the community to script short films to educate young people about HIV prevention and testing.

The first prize winner, Voices for Victory Over HIV, is based on texts received from our SMS recipients who were asked to share messages for HIV prevention.

YOUTH VOICES

SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS

Community Building Engaging Audiences Increasing Reach General Awareness, Promotion Creating a buzz

CONCLUSIONS

Web-based outreach can encourage larger populations to get tested for HIV and receive prevention messages

Engaging young people in disseminating messages about HIV prevention through social media can be effective in reinforcing prevention messages

The number of HIV cases have increased following the implementation of the media campaign.

THANKS

Support for this work was provided by the following:

The Spirit Golf Association FOCUS, Gilead Sciences Inc.

PLEASE VISIT US

www.teenhealthclinic.org Dr. Ruth Buzi: rbuzi@bcm.edu Dr. Peggy Smith: peggys@bcm.edu