Countering the Forgetting of Novel Health Information with 'Social Boosting'

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that social interactions within village networks significantly enhance the long-term retention of health knowledge, especially among well-connected individuals, through a mechanism called 'social boosting'.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of 'social boosting' showing how social network structure influences the effectiveness of health information retention in real-world settings.

Findings

Well-connected individuals retain health knowledge better.

Social interactions reinforce knowledge retention over 22 months.

Network position influences intervention effectiveness.

Abstract

To mitigate the adverse effects of low-quality or false information, studies have shown the effectiveness of various intervention techniques through debunking or so-called pre-bunking. However, the effectiveness of such interventions can decay. Here, we investigate the role of the detailed social structure of the local villages within which the intervened individuals live, which provides opportunities for the targeted individuals to discuss and internalize new knowledge. We evaluated this with respect to a critically important topic, information about maternal and child health care, delivered via a 22-month in-home intervention. Specifically, we examined the effect of having friendship ties on the retention of knowledge interventions among targeted individuals in 110 isolated Honduran villages. We hypothesize that individuals who receive specific knowledge can internalize and consolidate this information by engaging in social interactions where, for instance, they have an opportunity to discuss it with others in the process. The opportunity to explain information to others (knowledge sharing) promotes deeper cognitive processing and elaborative encoding, which ultimately enhances memory retention. We found that well-connected individuals within a social network experience an enhanced effectiveness of knowledge interventions. These individuals may be more likely to internalize and retain the information and reinforce it in others, due to increased opportunities for social interaction where they teach others or learn from them, a mechanism we refer to as "social boosting". These findings underscore the role of social interactions in reinforcing health knowledge interventions over the long term. We believe these findings would be of interest to the health policy, the global health workforce, and healthcare professionals focusing on disadvantaged populations and UN missions on infodemics.