Protect the Circle of Life: Developing a Widget to Promote Flu Vaccination Among American Indian and Alaska Native Populations

Background: Vaccination against the flu is particularly important for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN), who are at higher risk for complications from the flu. Poverty, delayed access to health care, low vaccination coverage, and geographic isolation put AI/AN at greater risk of flu complications, increasing the need to disseminate critical health messages that raise awareness about flu prevention and promote vaccination though multiple channels and formats. To meet this growing need, CDC developed the “Protect the Circle of Life” campaign that includes a range of culturally competent print materials and video and audio public service announcements. In December, 2013, CDC introduced the “Protect the Circle of Life” widget designed to raise awareness among AI/ANs about the benefits flu vaccination and increase accessibility to the vaccine. The widget features a user-friendly “Flu I.Q.” test; a link to HealthMap Vaccine Finder, a free, online service for locating vaccine providers across the U.S; and direct access to CDC seasonal flu information. The Protect the Circle of Life widget offers new opportunities to deliver flu-related health messages though the web and social media to a larger AI/AN audience in both urban and rural communities in order to increase flu vaccination rates. 

Program background: This presentation describes the development and implementation of the Protect the Circle of Life widget to promote flu vaccination among AI/ANs.  CDC widgets are small, standalone applications that can be embedded in a webpage and require no maintenance from the user. This tool features Protect the Circle of Life campaign branding, enables AI/AN partner communities and organizations to display the most up-to-date CDC seasonal flu data and allows users to access interactive, culturally specific health information. During the 2013 and 2014 flu season, the Protect the Circle of Life widget was shared among over 100 AI/AN national, regional, and tribal partners on websites, blogs, social media, and newsletters. These preliminary results provide support for the development and use of widgets for public health outreach programs targeting AI/ANs to raise awareness and facilitate positive health outcomes using interactive multimedia tools.

Evaluation Methods and Results: Initial widget usage and promotion suggests that technology and social media use is common and diverse among AI/AN individuals and communities. Evaluation will capture widget utility among tribal clinics and organizations, using web analytic tools and CDC metric concepts and will measure overall page views of widget content, visitors, shares, and postings on webpages and social media since its launch in December 2013. 

Conclusions: The integration of online tools such as widgets have the potential to increase the dissemination of culturally appropriate health information, further engage AI/ANs in both urban and rural areas, and improve public health outcomes.

Implications for research and/or practice: Initial findings reveal evolving patterns of media preferences and use among AI/AN communities. Outcomes can be applied to the development of future public health campaigns and widgets targeting AI/AN populations.