riding the mobile wave: what local health departments need in order to adopt social media and mobile...
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Riding the Mobile Wave:What Local Health Departments Need in order to
Adopt Social Media and Mobile Health Technologies for Emergency Preparedness
Disaster Information Specialists Program
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Sara Rubin, MPH, MA
NACCHO
Trends in Social Media and Mobile Device Use:
Daily Communications & Emergencies
What Research Tells Us: Increasing Use
Communities are increasingly communicating via mobile technologies
and social media to share and find information:
89% of American adults own cell phones
80% use their phones to send or receive text messages
56% use them to access the internet
31% use them to look up health or medical information online
67% of adults who use the internet also use social networking sites Data from Pew Research Center
Considerations Regarding Factors Affecting Access to Mobile Apps and
Social Media
1. Age• 55+ has at least 45% lower uptake
than youngest age bracket
2. Geographic Location • Almost 20% difference in urban vs.
rural use
3. Household Income• Slight correlation between higher
income and use – 19% difference between lowest and highest brackets
4. Education Level• Slight correlation between higher
education and use – 18% difference between lowest and highest brackets
What Research Tells Us: Application During Disasters
Mobile health (mHealth) and social media are influential tools during
responses to disasters and public health emergencies (PHEs):
Communities are increasingly communicating via these platforms to
share and find information during emergencies;
Some technologies are more widely used than others in different stages
of an emergency;
Public officials benefit from using these technologies for emergency
communications.
What Research Tells Us:Increasing Use and Expectations
American Red Cross Survey (2012)
The public has a growing expectation
that public officials will use these
technologies in disasters.
There is an increasing number of
“emergency social users.”
Research Gaps: What Remains Unclear
1.How can local health departments (LHDs)
capitalize on these technologies for emergency
communications?
2.How can these technologies specifically be
applied to preparedness and planning
communications?
Overview of Our Study
Overview of our study (2)Purpose: Identify factors that enable or hinder the adoption and
use of mHealth and social media among select LHDs, particularly
for preparedness.
Outcome: Fill a research gap by identifying factors that are
necessary to build and improve organizational capacity at LHDs to
enhance their use of these technologies in all disaster phases.
Methodology:
Select LHDs exhibiting efforts to use mHealth or social media for
public health purposes.
Phone-based interviews with staff at selected LHDs.
Completed Interviews: 65 interviews completed,
from 47 LHDs.
Interviewee Characteristics
Total Interviews: 65
States: 23
Health Departments: 47
Positions Interviewed
Findings & Examples from Local Health Departments
In-house Capacity
Ability of both staff and the LHD as a whole to effectively
integrate social media and mHealth programs into their
department’s overall communication and emergency
preparedness strategy
Key Factors Suggestions & Requests
Staff Knowledge Training
Funding Information
Resources & IT support Industry Collaboration
Leadership Support & Policies
Implied or expressed support of leaders, in the LHD and at
other government levels, to encourage the use of social
media and mHealth, and the existence of specific rules or
policies, formal or informal, regulating or encouraging the
use of such technologies
Key Factors Suggestions & Requests
Support for mHealth Share best practices
LHD policies to support use Build an evidence base
Local, state and federal policies to support use
Identify resources for policy development
State and federal encouragement
Case Study: Chicago Department of Public Health
“It is a priority across the city to become more
technologically ‘with it,’ and to make government more
accessible and transparent.”
Case Study: Chicago Department of Public Health (2)
Chicago Health Atlas: visualizes aggregate
health-related information so that people
can see the prevalence of specific health
conditions in their area
Flu Shots: helps Chicago residents locate
and find public transportation to CDPH’s
free flu shot clinic events
Foodborne Chicago: uses computers & code
to search Twitter for tweets related to food
poisoning in Chicago.
Reporting Food Poisoning: Open 311 System
Legal & Security Issues
Concerns around security of information and the
application of legal guidance for mHealth and social media
programs
Key Factors Suggestions & Requests
Applicability of federal laws Federal guidance
Liability concerns Public/private support for managing liabilitiesSecurity impediments to
expansion
Audiences
Intended and targeted audiences at which LHDs aim to
direct programs, including those in different geographic
locations and those considered vulnerable or at-risk
Key Factors Suggestions & Requests
Purpose-specific platforms Improved collaboration with CBOs and other external organizations
Limited capacity for 2-way communication
Integrate mHealth and social media into communications plans
Specific needs of vulnerable populations
Ready San Diego
Alert San Diego100,000 residents opted-inReverse 911 calls
San Diego (SD) Emergency appStarted after 2011 blackoutAndroid and iPhone
~10,000 downloadsFeatures:
Disaster preparedness informationInteractive checklists to help create an emergency plan & build an emergency kitEmergency updates with interactive maps
Recommendations for Practitioners and Policymakers
Recommendations for Practitioners and Policymakers (2)
LHDs Policymakers
In-house capacity - Assess capacity and augment with external support- Expand communications plans
- Create information exchange database- Integrate local information sharing into national system
Leadership Support & Policies
Learn from other practitioners
Legal & Security Concerns
Identify resources for policy development
- Provide guidance on applicability of federal laws- Clarify regulation of new technologies
Audiences - Identify key audiences and how they communicate- Coordinate with CBOs- Support program and jurisdiction interoperability
Support resources to reach vulnerable and at-risk populations
For More Information
Sara Rubin, MA, MPH
Get the full report at: www.nacchopreparedness.org
www.upmchealthsecurity.org
Presentation adapted from Nidhi Bouri’s slides.