Disseminating COVID‐19 and Alzheimer’s Disease Information to Underrepresented Communities Using Social Media

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundTo help address the impact of disinformation pertaining to the COVID‐19 pandemic on underrepresented groups (URG), members of the University of Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) Center formed a strategic team consisting of experts in communications, health research scientists, community advocates and community agencies to disseminate information to URG communities on social media platforms. Three Wisconsin communities were included: African American, American Indian (i.e. Oneida Nation) and Latinx communities. Our goals were 1) to share culturally tailored and medically accurate messages on the virus, vaccine, and related topics, 2) to quell disinformation, and 3) to offer information on pertinent health topics such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia that also disproportionately affect URG and for which COVID‐19 is now a risk factor.MethodOur experts convened weekly to discuss possible topics suggested by team scientists or community advocates based on feedback from their respective community. Our team scientist developed lay format materials which were further translated into culturally appropriate social media messages by community advocates. Advocates posted at least one social media message per week for a total of 804 posts across all three communities. Social media metrics (Reach, Engagement, Impressions) were collected at 10 months, 17 months, 24 months and 28 months after initial post, using Hootsuite, Sprout Social and Facebook Analytics. Posts focused on mental health (n = 38) and Alzheimer’s disease (n = 7) were tagged on the Facebook and Instagram pages targeting African Americans.ResultOverall from September 2020 – January 2023, the 804 mixed‐media informational posts on social media platforms, garnered 166,917 impressions and over 11,202 engagements (Table 1). Topics including mental health and AD were well received (Figure 1). Audiences resonated with personal posts surrounding health topics from the community advocates.ConclusionFacebook had higher engagement rates than Instagram, but AD posts had lower reach and engagement than those of mental health, suggesting that more efforts are necessary to increase awareness about AD. Using mixed‐media approaches, and utilizing community advocates to communicate health information to URG were impactful. These strategies could be extrapolated to other initiatives, including the recruitment of URG into dementia clinical trials which can aid in dismantling dementia related health disparities.