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The Doctors for Coronavirus Prevention Project Thanksgiving / Christmas Messaging Campaign

NCT ID: NCT04644328

Last Updated: 2021-12-21

Study Results

Results available

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

820 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2020-11-12

Study Completion Date

2021-02-11

Brief Summary

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Facebook ads with physician-delivered videos were shown before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and focused on staying safe during the COVID pandemic by limiting travel and mask-wearing.

Detailed Description

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The investigators used Facebook ads to show a 20 second video clip recorded by Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard and Lynn Community health center doctors (6 people in all) to approximately 20,000,000 Facebook users. The ads will be shown before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday and will focus on staying safe - limiting travel and mask-wearing. The investigators will randomize exposure to the ad campaign at the ZIP code or county level to ask:

Do the videos change mobility and Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday travel? Do they reduce the spread of COVID-19?

Are there spillover impacts from the video messages? For example, if individuals decide to stay home, then do the geographical regions that tend to be visited by people from treated areas experience any effects, either through information spillovers or through a reduction in travel?

Conditions

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Covid19

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

SEQUENTIAL

A total of 13 states, comprising 829 counties, centrally report COVID-19 cases at the ZCTA level. Two separate experiments were run within the study, one around Thanksgiving and one around Christmas. For each experiment, approximately half of the counties were randomized to high-intensity treatment with the remaining randomized to low-intensity treatment. In high-intensity counties, 3/4 of ZCTAs were treated and 1/4 were not. In low-intensity counties, 1/4 of ZCTAs were treated and 3/4 were not. In treated ZCTAs, Facebook users received ads with messages from physicians and other health personnel urging them to stay home and wear masks to stop the spread of COVID-19. Users in non-treated ZCTAs received no such ads. After exclusions, 820 counties were randomized to high- or low-intensity treatment during Thanksgiving and 767 counties were during Christmas.
Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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High-Intensity Treatment Arm

Treatment: Individuals received approximately 3 Facebook ads over a 2-week period. Each ad contained a short video recorded by a physician using a script that discusses staying safe during the holidays by considering not traveling and using a mask when appropriate.

Randomization to treatment: The 13 states which centrally report COVID-19 cases at the ZCTA level contained 829 counties. At Thanksgiving, 9 counties were excluded due to data limitations. At Christmas, 62 counties were excluded due to data limitations and potential negative impacts in rural, conservative areas resulting from polarization in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. Approximately half of the counties were randomized to high-intensity treatment with the remaining randomized to low-intensity treatment. In high-intensity counties, 3/4 of ZCTAs were treated (i.e., Facebook users in those ZCTAs received ads) and 1/4 were not. In low-intensity counties, 1/4 of ZCTAs were treated and 3/4 were not.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Facebook Ads on the importance of staying safe during the Thanksgiving / Christmas holiday

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Facebook ads to show a 15 second video clip recorded by MGH, Harvard and Lynn Community health center and other health care professionals. The ads will be shown before the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday and will focus on staying safe - limiting travel and mask-wearing. The investigators will randomize exposure to the ad campaign at the ZIP code or county level.

Low-Intensity Control Arm

Control: Individuals did not receive ads containing short physician-recorded videos.

Randomization to treatment: The 13 states which centrally report COVID-19 cases at the ZCTA level contained 829 counties. At Thanksgiving, 9 counties were excluded due to data limitations. At Christmas, 62 counties were excluded due to data limitations and potential negative impacts in rural, conservative areas resulting from polarization in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. Approximately half of the counties were randomized to high-intensity treatment with the remaining randomized to low-intensity treatment. In high-intensity counties, 3/4 of ZCTAs were treated (i.e., Facebook users in those ZCTAs received ads) and 1/4 were not. In low-intensity counties, 1/4 of ZCTAs were treated and 3/4 were not.

Group Type NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

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Facebook Ads on the importance of staying safe during the Thanksgiving / Christmas holiday

Facebook ads to show a 15 second video clip recorded by MGH, Harvard and Lynn Community health center and other health care professionals. The ads will be shown before the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday and will focus on staying safe - limiting travel and mask-wearing. The investigators will randomize exposure to the ad campaign at the ZIP code or county level.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

\- Individuals viewing the ads must be Facebook users, 18 years and older. Facebook will decide specifically which users receive the messages within a target geographical area (zip or county).

Exclusion Criteria

\-
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Harvard University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Massachusetts General Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Yale University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

Stanford University

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Esther Duflo

Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics, MIT; Co-Director, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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JPAL North America

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Breza E, Stanford FC, Alsan M, Alsan B, Banerjee A, Chandrasekhar AG, Eichmeyer S, Glushko T, Goldsmith-Pinkham P, Holland K, Hoppe E, Karnani M, Liegl S, Loisel T, Ogbu-Nwobodo L, Olken BA, Torres C, Vautrey PL, Warner ET, Wootton S, Duflo E. Effects of a large-scale social media advertising campaign on holiday travel and COVID-19 infections: a cluster randomized controlled trial. Nat Med. 2021 Sep;27(9):1622-1628. doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01487-3. Epub 2021 Aug 19.

Reference Type RESULT
PMID: 34413518 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

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2003000118A010

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id