Can You Hear Me Now? Evaluation of Campaign Information Distribution Via Newsletter

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis: This presentation will discuss the evaluation of a key component of CDC’s HPV Vaccine is Cancer Prevention campaign’s outreach to partner organizations and state programs. The campaign shares information and resources with partner organizations, public health professionals, clinicians, and other healthcare professionals through an electronic newsletter, #preteenvaxnews. The campaign team sought to understand, what is the reach and utility of this resource to targeted recipients of CDC's HPV Vaccine is Cancer Prevention campaign electronic newsletter, #preteenvaxnews? In other words, is this resource helping our stakeholders and worth the return on investment of time and resources?

Methods: The newsletter evaluation survey assessed general utility of the resources shared in the newsletter (e.g., the CDC’s HPV vaccine and HPV web portals), in order to understand and better serve the information needs of partners. A brief survey was sent to all partners currently on the #preteenvaxnews mailing list. Data was collected in Survey Monkey and exported to Excel for descriptive analysis. Participation in the survey was voluntary and respondents could choose to exit the survey at any time. No personally identifying information was collected. Results were used to tailor newsletter content to better meet the needs of our partners.

Results: Survey results revealed a majority (86.29%) of survey participants have visited the Preteen Vaccines website.  Content for healthcare professional/clinicians (54.81%) was the section listed as the most useful, followed by print and digital materials (16.35%) and content for parents (12.50%). Most recipients who completed the survey (90.16%) have visited www.cdc.gov/hpv page and the section for providers (69.16%) was the most useful, followed by parents (19.63%) and partners (11.21%). A majority of respondents have read (70%) the #preteenvaxnews newsletter, and almost all (98.82%) find the information in the newsletter to be useful. 

Conclusions: Survey findings informed refinements in the organization and frequency of CDC materials – via the website and in the newsletter. The format of the newsletter was redesigned to meet the needs of the recipients, based on the survey results. The findings also prompted a change in the distribution of the newsletter to GovDelivery utilizing NCIRD’s distribution list of 87,000 recipients. 

Implications for research and/or practice: Every campaign has a newsletter or blast email to share information about the campaign. Understanding the utility of the resource, as well as the stakeholder needs, through an evaluation of the resource and channel can refine further campaign communications.