Impact of a Health Communication Campaign on Uptake of Contraceptive Services during the 2016–2017 Zika Virus Outbreak in Puerto Rico

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Health Commun
• Personal Author:
  August, Euna M. ; Powell, Rachel ; Morris, Elana ; Romero, Lisa ; Zapata, Lauren B. ; Lathrop, Eva
• Description:
  The Zika Contraception Access Network (Z-CAN) was established during the 2016-2017 Zika virus outbreak in Puerto Rico as a short-term emergency response program providing client-centered contraceptive counseling and same-day access to the full range of reversible contraceptive methods at no cost to women wishing to delay pregnancy. An evidence-based communication campaign, Ante La Duda, Pregunta (ALDP), was launched to encourage utilization of Z-CAN services. We assessed the effectiveness of campaign tactics in increasing awareness of Z-CAN among women in Puerto Rico. Data on campaign exposure and awareness were obtained through a self-administered online survey approximately two weeks after an initial Z-CAN visit, while the number of searches for participating clinics were obtained from monitoring the campaign website. Findings demonstrated that the most common ways survey respondents learned about Z-CAN were through friends or family (38.3%), social media (23.9%), a clinical encounter (12.7%), and website (11.7%). Nearly two-thirds (61.1%) of respondents had heard of the ALDP campaign. Over the campaign's duration, there were 27,273 searches for Z-CAN clinics. Findings suggest that evidence-based communication campaigns may increase awareness of needed public health services during emergencies. Word of mouth, social media, and digital engagement may be appropriate communication tactics for emergency response mobilization.
• Subjects:
  Contraceptive Agents Disease Outbreaks Female Health Communication Humans Pregnancy Zika Virus Zika Virus Infection
• Source:
  Health Commun. 38(2):252-259
• Pubmed ID:
  34182847
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC8712614
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Place as Subject:
  Puerto Rico
• Volume:
  38
• Issue:
  2
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:550b3939376e93e29d96f05d8fd220497332357f901023e4f219533c2a1dc04c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/112967/cdc_112967_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 403.28 KB ]