Department of Economics Middlebury College.
Department of Economics Middlebury College.
Contraception. 2019 Aug;100(2):116-122. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2019.04.001. Epub 2019 Apr 15.
To test whether an informational campaign carried out on social media increased use of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC).
We implemented a stratified cluster randomized control trial to identify the effect of an informational campaign carried out using Facebook advertisements designed to increase knowledge of the efficacy, ease of use and safety of LARC. We randomized all zip codes in a three-state study area to either a control group or a treatment group. Female Facebook users age 18-34 living in treated clusters received advertisements developed by the researchers in partnership with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE), which sponsored the campaign. We assessed changes in the number and rate of LARC insertions at PPNNE health centers by patients' treatment status.
Facebook showed 1.8 million advertisements to women residing in 536 randomly assigned treatment clusters. Women living in 545 control clusters did not receive advertisements. We observed 152,743 patient visits across PPNNE's 21 health centers over a 26-month period spanning the advertisement campaign. After treatment, the number of LARC insertions increased by 5.7% (95% CI 0.4%-11.3%, p=.04) among patients living in treated relative to control clusters. This result, however, is driven by patients at a single large health center that was experiencing an increase in patient volume prior to the intervention. If we drop this clinic from the sample, we find no evidence that the campaign had an effect on LARC insertions (0.8% reduction, 95% CI -7.6 to 6.5, p=.83). Moreover, if we control for patient volume, we also find no evidence that the campaign increased insertions per patient (0.5% relative increase in insertions, 95% CI -4.9% to 5.2%, p=.87).
We conclude that the intervention did not have a detectable impact on LARC insertions in the 4 months after the ad campaign.
This project demonstrates the importance of evaluating the impact of resources invested on advertising with the goal of promoting public health.
测试在社交媒体上开展的信息宣传活动是否增加了长效可逆避孕（LARC）的使用。
我们实施了一项分层聚类随机对照试验，以确定使用 Facebook 广告开展的信息宣传活动对提高 LARC 的疗效、易用性和安全性的认识是否有影响。我们将研究区域内的所有邮政编码分为对照组和治疗组。居住在治疗组的三个州的研究区域中，年龄在 18-34 岁的女性 Facebook 用户收到了由研究人员与新英格兰北部计划生育协会（PPNNE）合作开发的广告，该协会赞助了这项活动。我们根据患者的治疗状况评估了 PPNNE 保健中心 LARC 插入数量和速度的变化。
Facebook 向居住在 536 个随机分配治疗组的女性展示了 180 万条广告。居住在 545 个对照组的女性没有收到广告。在为期 26 个月的广告宣传活动中，我们观察了 PPNNE 的 21 个保健中心的 152743 名患者就诊。治疗后，与对照组相比，居住在治疗组的患者中 LARC 插入数量增加了 5.7%（95%CI 0.4%-11.3%，p=.04）。然而，这一结果是由一家大型保健中心的患者推动的，该中心在干预前的患者数量有所增加。如果我们从样本中剔除这家诊所，就没有证据表明该活动对 LARC 插入有影响（减少 0.8%，95%CI-7.6%至 6.5%，p=.83）。此外，如果我们控制患者数量，也没有证据表明该活动增加了每位患者的插入次数（插入次数相对增加 0.5%，95%CI-4.9%至 5.2%，p=.87）。
我们的结论是，干预措施在广告宣传活动后的 4 个月内对 LARC 插入没有明显影响。
该项目证明了评估用于促进公共卫生的广告投入资源的影响的重要性。
