Assistir vídeos sobre prevenção de arboviroses nas mídias sociais contribui para a mudança de comportamento: Evidências de um estudo de intervenção educativa no Nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

The vector control arbovirus mosquitoes that cause diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and zika depends on the engagement of the population in prevention actions. In the project “Impact of mobile learning on the prevention and management of complications caused by arbovirus (Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya) - ZikaMob”, funded by the British Council, an educational intervention based on behavior change theories using digital platforms was carried out. High school students were invited to carry out preventive actions for arboviruses, such as inspecting their homes and eliminating breeding sites, sorting out recyclables to donate to pickers, installing window screens and carrying out cleaning work. These actions were proven through students' video production, published on social media. In this quasi experimental design, the objective was to investigate whether the participants who watched the videos produced in the ZikaMob project had differences in performing preventive behaviors compared to those who did not watch the videos. To verify possible associations between dependent and independent variables, the Pearson Chi-square test and the Mann Witney test with a significance level of 5% were used. Of the 517 participants, 486 (94%) watched the ZikaMob project videos. Of these, 438 were students with a mean age of 17 years. Watching the videos was associated with breeding behaviors (p = 0.023) and perception of arboviruses (p = 0.037). Those who watched more than ten videos had a higher median (8.00) in relation to the target behavior score than those who did not watch any video (6.00) (p = 0.001); This was also repeated for facilitating behaviors and self-perceived risk of acquiring arboviruses. The greater the perception of self-efficacy, the more ZikaMob videos were watched by participants; indicating that observation contributes to mobilize people to perform preventive actions. This study showed that behavioral change and engagement in actions to prevent arboviruses depends on how many videos one watches. These findings contribute to the planning of future educational interventions and vector control actions using social media.