Assessing the Saudi Ministry of Health Instagram messaging through the lens of the health belief model

TL;DR

This study analyzed Saudi Ministry of Health's Instagram posts during the COVID-19 vaccine campaign to see how well they aligned with health communication models and public engagement.

Contribution

The study evaluates the use of health belief and extended parallel processing models in Saudi MOH's Instagram communication during the pandemic.

Findings

Cues to action/efficacy and perceived benefits were most frequently used in MOH's Instagram posts.

Only 21% of posts followed the extended parallel processing model construct.

Public engagement was not statistically associated with the health belief or extended parallel processing model constructs.

Abstract

Public health authorities are recognizing the importance of social media platforms as a way to spread health messages, engage and enhance communication with the public, and improve the promotion of programs, products, and services. However, the overabundance of information and the spread of misinformation, disinformation, and misleading news, images, and videos in social media have led to an “infodemic.” This calls for analyzing the messages communicated by governmental channels to improve public trust and increase public compliance.

This study aimed to explore how the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) used Instagram to communicate with the public during the COVID-19 vaccination-promotion phase and to understand the key constructs influencing public engagement.

All Instagram posts from the Saudi MOH official Instagram account related to COVID-19 vaccine and corresponding likes and comments between December 12, 2020, and June 13, 2022, were extracted. Content analysis was performed following the health belief model (HBM) and the extended parallel processing model (EPPM) key constructs: perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and cues to actions/efficacy. The median public engagement was measured by examining the number of likes and comments for images and videos. The association between the key constructs and public engagement was assessed using a Mann–Whitney U test.

A total of 258 Instagram posts were included in the analysis. The most frequently used HBM key constructs were cues to action/efficacy (75%) and perceived benefits (60%). The remaining HBM constructs were found in less than 25% of the Instagram messages. Only 21% of the Instagram messages followed the EPPM construct. Overall, the median public engagement was not associated with the HBM and EPPM constructs.

The Saudi MOH can improve its communication strategy by including a proportional number of HBM key constructs, and increasing the number of Instagram messages with EPPM constructs in future public health promotions.