Engaging Latina Mommy Bloggers for Health Promotion Messaging

Background: Certain groups are at increased risk for developing serious flu-related complications because of higher under-vaccination rates and health disparities related to chronic diseases and conditions.  These include Latina women.  Unfortunately, Latino adults have the lowest vaccination rate among all adults (29.5%).  The CDC has launched social media strategies to encourage pregnant women and parents of young children to get vaccinated given risks related to H1N1 in health jurisdictions with a critical mass of Latinos.  Heightened messaging takes place during National Influenza Vaccination Week.

Program background: The National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW) was established by the CDC as a means to promote activities, messaging strategies, and media events with local vaccination coalitions, health departments, and community-based organizations to remind consumers of the need to protect themselves against the flu.  Nativa, a multicultural communications agency, has worked with HMA Associates and the CDC to support messaging strategies for Latinos as a means of increasing awareness about flu vaccination coverage disparities.  Unfortunately, Latino adults have the lowest adult flu vaccination rate of all adult groups. Nativa has launched blogger engagement strategies for three years in which time much has been learned in terms of delivering content to pregnant women and parents of young children.  A total of 45 Latina bloggers have been engaged nationwide over the last three years during National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW).  A content analysis of the blogger postings and an examination of the level of engagement reveal the need to educate vaccine-hesitant moms with facts that highlight the benefits of flu vaccination and dispel myths that counter concerns about safety and vaccine effectiveness.   

Evaluation Methods and Results: This blogger outreach strategy delivered a high number of positive conversations not only among Latina moms that shared their stories, but also by the bloggers themselves promoting images of their own family getting vaccinated and emphasizing the importance of flu immunization for any family member, especially for those who are at a high risk. Such conversations became a conduit to highlight the benefits of the flu vaccine and a means to reinforce messaging about safety and vaccine effectiveness.

Conclusions: Nativa’s Latina mommy blogger outreach provided the National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW) with the opportunity to connect and share an important message in trusted forum spaces from Latina moms.

Implications for research and/or practice: Application of the data analysis has implications to communication strategies. There is a need to broaden the blogger reach to include influencers who can reinforce the benefits of flu vaccination in the context of chronic diseases and the disparities that exist for Latino families.  Context is key to message saliency for the blogger-sphere.