Background:
The Mobilizing Tuberculosis (TB) Stories project was initiated in August 2019, as a partnership between the National Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCCID), the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority (NITHA) and the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH). The overall goal of the project was to develop, disseminate, and evaluate digital storytelling products that shared the lived experiences of TB survivors and front-line TB program staff during a TB outbreak in a northern First Nations community in Saskatchewan, Canada in 2018 and 2019. A four-episode podcast series entitled A Community Outbreak Story was developed and evaluated according to the framework below.
Methods:
Using a formative evaluation framework, we seek to achieve the project objectives in each of the 7 domains of interest: input, process, reach, quality, uptake, use and outcomes/impacts. The focus of this presentation will be on the reach, uptake and use by the project’s intended primary audiences, identified as tuberculosis program, policy makers and advisors, front line health service providers and public health practitioners, Northern First Nations community members, leaders and groups and social and economic policy makers, and advisors. Data collection included quantitative webpage analytics from the various platforms where the podcast was offered, as well as from its reach on social media, and listener feedback both unsolicited and through the listener feedback form. Outcomes and impacts were evaluated from the launch of the podcast in December 2020 for 6 months following product dissemination, ending in May 2021. Further analysis of the use and outcomes/impacts will be done through interviews with key stakeholders and volunteer audience members.
Results:
The reach was evaluated primarily on whether the intended audiences were exposed to audio products (based on the comprehensive dissemination activities). The total page views in months where active dissemination was conducted averaged at 199,5 views, in comparison to 61,6 in the other months. Individual episodes were listened to between 280 and 408 times.
The uptake was evaluated based on the 1) increase in knowledge and awareness of key messages/ information among intended audiences and 2) Intended audiences undergo change towards, or reinforcement of, attitudes that are conducive to desired product uses/impacts. Qualitative data from the listener feedback form indicated that when asked which messages resonated with them, the majority of respondents identified the majority of key messages. Additionally, respondents identified words or short statements describing how they felt during and after listening that related to being moved and hope for the future.
The use was evaluated on the ways in which the knowledge informs TB policy, programs, and practice and social and economic policy and programs in northern First Nations communities. Respondents from the listener feedback form identified as being from the following intended audience groups: TB Program or Policy Decision Maker/Advisor (17%); Front-line Health Care Provider OR Public Health Practitioner (33%), First Nations Community Leader, Member, or Organization Representative (33%). Further interviews with listeners who agreed to be contacted will be conducted to shed light on the longer-term use of the knowledge shared in the podcast series.
Conclusions:
This project provides an important example of the uses, processes, outcomes and impacts of developing and disseminating digital storytelling products as it relates to the elimination of TB in northern prairie First Nations communities. Exploring ways to disseminate information about TB is more crucial now that, as noted in the 2021 WHO Global TB Report, the on-going SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has reversed years of progress in providing TB services and reducing TB disease burden.
Claudyne Chevrier poster 2