The Doctors for Coronavirus Prevention Project Thanksgiving / Christmas Messaging Campaign

NCT04644328 | Completed Results

• 1 other identifier: 2003000118A010
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 820
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

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.

Conditions

Covid19

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Facebook Movement Metric

  The change in movement metric is the percent change in distance covered in a day compared to the same day of the week in the benchmark period of February 2-29, 2020, by people who started the day in a particular location. We define holiday travel as travel during the three days preceding each holiday, since the available data does not allow us to compute the impact of the intervention on the return travel (after the holiday). The reason is that the mobility data describes the behavior throughout the day, for people who were in each county that morning. Since the campaign was targeted based on home location, we can only capture its impact on travel away from home, not back home.

  November 26, 2020 (Thanksgiving); December 24-25, 2020 (Christmas); February 2-29, 2020 (Baseline benchmark)

• Percentage Leaving Home on Day of Holiday

  The Facebook stay put metric is the percentage of people who stay within a small geographical area (a "tile" of 600m\*600m in which they started the day). We use it to compute the share of people leaving home on the day of the holiday (i.e. this variable = 1 - stay put on the day of the holiday).

  November 26, 2020 (Thanksgiving); December 24-25, 2020 (Christmas)

• Inverse Hyperbolic Sine of COVID-19 Cases

  Inverse hyperbolic sine of COVID-19 cases during a 14 day period starting 5 days after each holiday

  December 1-14 (Thanksgiving arms) and January 1-14 (Christmas arms)

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Knowledge of COVID-19 Prevention Message (Recall of ad, Intent to Travel, Mask Wearing and Beliefs About Travel)

  up to one month

• Average Number of Tiles People Occupy (Mobility Measure)

  up to one month

• Percentage of Eligible Participants Only Observed in a Single Level-16 Bing Tile (no Change in Movement)

  up to one month

Study Arms (2)

High-Intensity Treatment Arm

EXPERIMENTAL

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.

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

Low-Intensity Control Arm

NO INTERVENTION

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.

Interventions

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

High-Intensity Treatment Arm

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• \- 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).

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.: lead
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology: collaborator
• Harvard University: collaborator
• Massachusetts General Hospital: collaborator
• Yale University: collaborator
• Stanford University: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

JPAL North America

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• 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.

  PMID: 34413518 RESULT

MeSH Terms

Conditions

COVID-19

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Pneumonia, Viral; Pneumonia; Respiratory Tract Infections; Infections; Virus Diseases; Coronavirus Infections; Coronaviridae Infections; Nidovirales Infections; RNA Virus Infections; Lung Diseases; Respiratory Tract Diseases

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Esther Duflo
• Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

eduflo@mit.edu

617-258-7013

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: No
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: SEQUENTIAL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics, MIT; Co-Director, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

Model Details: 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.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 13, 2020
• First Posted: November 25, 2020
• Study Start: November 12, 2020
• Primary Completion: February 11, 2021
• Study Completion: February 11, 2021
• Last Updated: December 21, 2021
• Results First Posted: December 21, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-12

Locations

US (1)