IMPACT OF A VIRTUAL CAMPAIGN FOR PROMOTING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN A LOWER MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRY DURING THE COVID-19 ERA

S. Odetola¹, O. Ojo², O. Akinola³, C. Nwadibia⁴, M. Oloyede⁵, O. Okunade⁶, O.A. Olaleye⁷, E.N.D. Ekechukwu⁸

Background: Measures put in place to curb the spread of the Covid-19 such as nationwide lock-downs, closure of schools, gyms and public recreational spaces, although crucial, have inadvertently fostered a reduction in physical activity. They have also promoted excessive amounts of time for screen activities and a consequent increase in the risk for and potential deterioration of chronic health conditions.
With over 3.4 billion people now using at least one social networking platform, the use of social media for public health campaigns continues to gain popularity, offering a means to combat misinformation and encourage behavioral changes, while actively engaging audiences and allowing access to real-time feedback.

Purpose: This study reports the reach of a virtual campaign in a lower middle-income country designed to:

1. promote the health and physical activity level of individuals
2. reduce the likelihood of musculoskeletal injuries as a result of poor ergonomic practices while working from home and,
3. increase awareness on practices to curb the spread of Coronavirus through social media platforms.

Methods: A total of 141 volunteers enlisted in the campaign. They were recruited via a public call for volunteers to share promotional e-posters through their personal social media platforms for eight days. Each day focused on sub-themes such as: setting up an ergonomic home office, proper posture and home workout sessions across age groups. Posts and interactions with posts by social media users were tracked and recorded using the hashtag designated for the campaign. A simple tracking sheet for WhatsApp engagement was shared with volunteers and collated at the end of the campaign.

Results: Impact was measured in terms of total engagement with 130 posts across five social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and WordPress Blog). Total engagement, defined as all interactions with the content was 15889 for an 8-day period. WhatsApp recorded the highest engagement (86.31%), followed by Instagram (8.55%), Twitter (3.59%) and WordPress Blog (1.14%) while engagement from Facebook (0.04%) was the lowest. The review of the trend of engagement across all social media platforms revealed a peak on the 6th day of the campaign following a virtual interactive session with volunteers.  

Conclusion(s): The one-to-one interaction platform used for the campaign (WhatsApp) recorded higher engagement than the one-to-many social networks used (Instagram, Twitter etc.). This is not unexpected as WhatsApp is reported as the most utilized social media platform in Nigeria. Further, the peculiarity of the online platforms used ensures content can still be viewed irrespective of when posted, therefore, the impact of the campaign has the capacity to increase over time without promotional efforts.

Implications: Considering the total engagement achieved within an 8-day period and the potential for engagement to increase, it can be implied that social media is a viable tool for health promotion in a lower middle-income country. Although metrics generated by social media applications do not necessarily depict offline behavior change, they may be vital in quantifying the reach of health information.
Additionally, higher engagement from the ‘one-to-one’ interaction platform(s), may prove they are more effective in providing telehealth services.

Funding, acknowledgements: No external funding was received for this work. 

Keywords: Virtual Health Promotion, Covid-19, Social Media

Topic: Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Institution: N/A

Committee: N/A

Reason: This study reports publicly available data which can be easily observed.