Social Media as a Tool to Promote Health Awareness: Results from an Online Cervical Cancer Prevention Study

In the United States (US), only 83% of women reported receiving appropriate Pap test screening - well below the national target of 93% - and only 43% of girls aged 13 to 17 are up to date on all the recommended human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine doses for their age. This study investigated whether participation in an online social media platform and receipt of brief, tailored messages ("tweets") is effective at increasing knowledge, awareness, and prevention behaviours related to HPV and cervical cancer.

Study investigators designed an anonymous online platform ("Health Connect") for sharing and discussion of brief messages regarding HPV and cervical cancer prevention. They created 900 unique messages based on actual tweets from Twitter. Messages included a mix of factual information and personal experiences from organisations and individuals (e.g., "My sisters and I just got our last round of injections to keep HPV and cervical cancer at bay! Every woman should ask their doc about it!"). Study participants (n=782 females, aged 18 and older) were recruited online and assigned to 9-person groups on the Health Connect platform. Each participant was shown a unique random set of 20 tailored messages per day over 5 days in a personalised message feed. A participant could select and share her messages to her online group, and everyone could then comment on the shared messages.

There were no statistically significant changes in knowledge and prevention behaviours from the baseline to the post survey among study participants. There was a modest, statistically significant change in response to whether participants had ever heard of HPV, increasing from 90 to 94% (p= 0.003).

The researchers explain that most study participants had substantial knowledge, awareness, and engagement in positive behaviours related to cervical cancer prevention at the start of the study, leaving little room for improvement. Furthermore, the duration of the study period (5 days) was likely not long enough to substantially change behaviours.

Nevertheless, the study showed that HPV awareness can be increased through brief participation in an online social media platform and receipt of tailored health messages. Further investigation that explores how social media can be used to improve knowledge and adoption of healthy behaviours related to cervical cancer is warranted.