The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) will lead the online evaluation of four digital health campaigns developed by a non-governmental organization (NGO), Réseau Africain de l'Éducation pour la Santé (RAES), or African Network for Health Education in English, from West Africa and delivered via social media. The full evaluation study will begin enrolling participants in Fall 2023 and will conclude in Winter 2026. Approximately 3,000 participants will be recruited for each of the four campaigns (n=12,000), and each campaign will last approximately 2 months. The four campaigns are scheduled to take place in Fall 2023, Winter 2025, Fall 2025, and Winter 2026, corresponding to evaluation activities including baseline and follow-up data collection. The scope of work for UCLA will center around evaluation activities related to program activities developed and implemented by the non-governmental organization. The digital and online programming will be developed and implemented by the non-governmental organization with the goal of strengthening sexual and reproductive health among young people in Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Cote d'Ivoire. UCLA will lead the evaluation, examining if health education programming contributes to this goal by developing and implementing an evaluation design for digital and online programming.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
OTHER
Masking
SINGLE
Enrollment
492
Study content for the 2-week Facebook-based intervention was developed by West African non-governmental organization, Réseau Africain de l'Éducation pour la Santé (RAES), or African Network for Health Education in English. RAES created culturally relevant SRH information tailored to the target population of young adults, taking the form of educational materials and personal stories and building off of their social communication campaign that promotes health and social change, entitled C'est la Vie! (CLV). Content themes centered around preventing early pregnancy, contraceptive knowledge and use, community norms pertaining to sexual and reproductive health, and available online services. All content was in French.
ONG RAES Facebook Account
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
ONG RAES Facebook Account
Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
ONG RAES Facebook Account
Dakar, Senegal
Self-reported 12-item knowledge scale
A 12-item knowledge score taken from the Phase 8 version of the Demographic and Health Surveys Program woman's questionnaire. Participants answer Yes or No to if they know 12 common contraceptive methods. Scores range from 0-12 with 12 indicating higher knowledge.
Time frame: From enrollment to follow-up assessment after 2-week intervention.
Self-reported 3-item self-efficacy scale
3 item scale adapted from the Contraceptive Self-Efficacy among women in sub-Saharan Africa (CSESSA), a scale found to be reliable among population samples in sub-Saharan Africa. Scales range from 0 (not at all confident) to 10 (completely confident).
Time frame: From enrollment to follow-up assessment after 2-week intervention.
Self-reported 3-item awareness scale of online services.
3-item scale. Participants are asked if they are aware of three specific providers that provide online services throughout West African mentioned in the study content. Scores ranged from 0 (unaware of any service providers) to 3 (aware of all three service providers).
Time frame: From enrollment to the end of the 2-week intervention
Self-reported 6-item use of online services scale.
6-item scale. Participants are asked to self-report if they used any of six online services that were highlighted in the study content, including using websites for advice, using a chat-bot, and communicating with organizations through WhatsApp. Scores range from 0 (no services used) to 6 (six services used).
Time frame: From enrollment to follow-up assessment after 2-week intervention.
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