Adelante Ambassadors: Using Digital Media to Facilitate Community Engagement and Risk-Prevention for Latino Youth

Digital and social media are now widely used to promote engagement in health programs and improve health behaviors across a variety of age groups and domains. However, limited research exists on applying culturally relevant, new media interventions specific to Latino immigrant youth. This paper describes the pilot Adelante Youth Ambassador program for Latino immigrant youth, which used digital media and community-based participatory research to build positive youth development (PYD) assets as a prevention mechanism to reduce co-occurring health risks of substance use, sexual risk, and interpersonal violence. We worked collaboratively with adolescents to create video content as a conduit for Adelante-branded messages to be disseminated on the program’s social media platforms. Using an active audience engagement methodology, youth participants informed the development of prevention messages, scripts for the videos, and acted in videos. Participants disseminated content to their social media networks and engaged peers in dialogue about topics addressed in the videos. Using pre and post tests, we evaluated changes in PYD assets (Civic Action Competence, Confidence, Connection to Community, and Connection to Peers) and skills related to digital media use, communication, and advocacy. The program used innovative branding and social media strategies to engage Latino youth in health risk prevention.

Strategies to Increase Latino Immigrant Youth Engagement in Health Promotion Using Social Media: Mixed-Methods Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Generating participant engagement in social media applications for health promotion and disease prevention efforts is vital for their effectiveness and increases the likelihood of effecting sustainable behavior change. However, there is limited evidence regarding effective strategies for engaging Latino immigrant youth using social media. As part of the Avance Center for the Advancement of Immigrant/Refugee Health in Washington, DC, USA, we implemented Adelante, a branded primary prevention program, to address risk factors for co-occurring substance use, sexual risk, and interpersonal violence among Latino immigrant adolescents aged 12 to 19 years in a Washington, DC suburb. OBJECTIVE The objectives of this study were to (1) characterize Adelante participant Facebook reach and engagement and (2) identify post content and features that resulted in greater user engagement. METHODS We established the Adelante Facebook fan page in October of 2013, and the Adelante social marketing campaign used this platform for campaign activities from September 2015 to September 2016. We used Facebook Insights metrics to examine reach and post engagement of Adelante Facebook page fans (n=743). Data consisted of Facebook fan page posts between October 1, 2013 and September 30, 2016 (n=871). We developed a 2-phased mixed-methods analytical plan and coding scheme, and explored the association between post content categories and features and a composite measure of post engagement using 1-way analysis of variance tests. P<.05 determined statistical significance. RESULTS Posts on the Adelante Facebook page had a total of 34,318 clicks, 473 comments, 9080 likes or reactions, and 617 shares. Post content categories that were statistically significantly associated with post engagement were Adelante program updates (P<.001); youth achievement showcases (P=.001); news links (P<.001); social marketing campaign posts (P<.001); and prevention topics, including substance abuse (P<.001), safe sex (P=.02), sexually transmitted disease prevention (P<.001), and violence or fighting (P=.047). Post features that were significantly associated with post engagement comprised the inclusion of photos (P<.001); Spanish (P<.001) or bilingual (P=.001) posts; and portrayal of youth of both sexes (P<.001) portrayed in groups (P<.001) that were facilitated by adults (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS Social media outreach is a promising strategy that youth programs can use to complement in-person programming for augmented engagement. The Latino immigrant youth audience in this study had a tendency toward more passive social media consumption, having implications for outreach strategies and engagement measurement in future studies. While study findings confirmed the utility of social marketing campaigns for increasing user engagement, findings also highlighted a high level of engagement among youth with posts that covered casual, day-to-day program activity participation. This finding identifies an underexplored area that should be considered for health messaging, and also supports interventions that use peer-to-peer and user-generated health promotion approaches.

Where PYD Meets CBPR: A Photovoice Program for Latino Immigrant Youth

Community engagement in identifying issues of collective concern to address health disparities is an approach that is central to conducting community-based participatory research. It is particularly important for youth to be engaged in dialogue around issues that affect their lives. Participation of this nature is understood, within a Positive Youth Development (PYD) approach, to be an element of primary prevention vis a vis health risks. Photovoice has been an increasingly used methodology to enable youth to identify and address issues relevant to their daily experiences. We implemented a six-week Photovoice project guided by a PYD approach with Latino immigrant youth (n=12) from Langley Park, MD. This article describes the experiences of facilitators in implementing the program, testing a new curriculum, and also presents results related to changes in PYD assets among participants. We also offer recommendations for future Photovoice programs with similar populations and aims.