Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Aug 31, 2024
Open Peer Review Period: Aug 31, 2024 - Oct 26, 2024
Date Accepted: Mar 11, 2025
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Developing an online Community Advisory Board (CAB) of parents from social media to co-design an HPV vaccine intervention: A participatory research study.
ABSTRACT
Background:
As health interventions on social media continue to expand, researchers must find innovative and meaningful ways to engage online communities to inform research activities. Little has been documented describing this approach of using online community advisory boards (CAB) to co-create health communication interventions on social media.
Objective:
To describe promising approaches that can be used and adapted for the creation of online CABs, ultimately to continue to support the development of participatory online health research and practice.
Methods:
Twitter was used to recruit parents of children ages 9-14 who were active users of the platform and interested in serving on a CAB focused on child health and online programs. Social media advertising tools such as “interests” and “audience look-a-likes” were used to recruit parents. Monthly virtual meetings, participatory workbooks, and annual progress presentations were used to engage with CAB members. A mid-term evaluation was conducted at the end of the project Year 1 to assess successful processes as well as highlight changes to implement for CAB members in Year 2.
Results:
Six parents (5 females, 1 male) with children ages 9-14 from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds (African American, South Asian-American, and White) across six states in the U.S., representing urban, suburban, and rural areas, agreed to serve as community advisory board members. All six CAB members committed to one year of service beginning in July 2020 with four extending their participation into a second year (August 2021 – August 2022). The CAB provided expert insights and feedback to develop an HPV vaccine intervention for Twitter, including character development, narrative intervention content creation, study recruitment, survey development, and intervention delivery.
Conclusions:
Online CABs are integral to informing effective online health communication interventions. This study highlights promising approaches to forming, engaging, and maintaining an online community advisory board to enhance health research and practice.
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