Bringing Data to Life: The Power of Storytelling in Health Promotion and Evaluation

Authors:

Nancy Kaplan (Presenter)
State of Vermont

Public Health Statement: Patient Navigation after a cancer diagnosis is one of the hallmark services of the NBCCEDP. Low income women are offered these services so their treatment and follow-up after diagnosis is appropriate and follows specific guidelines, it is an ongoing challenge to ensure women receive these services.

Purpose: The Vermont program undertook a qualitative evaluation to hear directly from members about the impact of navigation services. The results of this evaluation were published on Facebook and used for program performance improvement and for general program promotion.

Methods/Approach: Program members were identified as potential interviewees if they had received patient navigation services in the previous year or were active members of the WISEWOMAN lifestyle support program called Farm-to-Family. 48 women were contacted and 19 were interviewed (40%). Interviews were conducted by Vermont Department of Health staff. Qualitative analysis of the interviews was done using grounded, inductive methods. The results of the evaluation were published using Facebook as the medium. The final campaign, ‘Real Stories from Ladies First,’ featured inspiring personal testimonials and authentic, professional photographs that were promoted through targeted paid posts on the program’s Facebook page.

Results: The Vermont program was extremely popular with members. Members perceived improvement to their access to health care services, reduction of treatment barriers and reported a stronger support system. The Real Stories of Ladies First campaign showed a two-fold increase in the number of Facebook users, the number of visitors and the time spent on the Program website increased, and most notably, there were three times as many calls to the Member Services toll-free number during the campaign compared to the same time period the year before. Of those who called, 77 percent were eligible or probably eligible for enrollment and sent an application. This two-pronged approach, publication of an evaluation and a resulting communications campaign, proved to be an effective tool to increase visibility of the program and increase engagement and enrollment.

Conclusions/Implications: The use of social media as a communications tool is now wide spread. This project used social media as an evaluation tool. This expands the reach of public health into the public realm. It allows members of the general public to have insight into how public health impacts their day to day existence.