Engaging in Health Activism through Neighbor-to-Neighbor Communication

Doula Support Challenges and Coping Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Maternal Health Inequities

The COVID-19 pandemic has made birthing more stressful and isolating, which has raised particular concern for populations of birthing people affected by maternal health inequities. Doulas have been proposed as one means of improving health outcomes by providing emotional, physical, and informational support to patients and their families before, during, or after labor. However, the social and economic conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic have posed new challenges for doula care. We conducted thematic analysis on 25 semi-structured interviews with practicing doulas in the United States to explore changes to doula care during the pandemic. Although doulas have faced many challenges in providing virtual and socially-distanced support during the pandemic, the rising use of telehealth among doulas has revealed new coping strategies and opportunities for virtual communication with the doula community. Our findings indicate that doula experiences during the pandemic can inform future doula care practices, particularly for birthing people of color and low-income birthing people.

Keeping Citizens Informed and Engaged During the COVID-19 Pandemic Using #YoMeInformoPMA: A Case from Latin America

Social media platforms contribute to the dissemination of information and encourage communication between health agencies and the public, especially during health crises. Public health agencies must engage in carefully crafted educational, communicative, and interactive practices to be effective in their messaging to build relationships with the public. Using quantitative content, social network, and thematic analysis, this study examined 2,500 tweets from April to August 2020 that included the hashtag #YoMeInformoPMA. Panama's Public Health Ministry created the #YoMeInformoPMA hashtag to keep citizens informed and engaged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research on social media use and implementation in Latin America during the COVID-19 pandemic, to inform and engage the public, is limited. Therefore, the aim of this investigation was to analyze strategies, themes, multimedia formats, key actors, and overall communications patterns of a Latin American health community hashtag. Our results determined that actors using the hashtag #YoMeInformoPMA mainly used an interactive strategy, a message that aims to promote casual conversations, advice, and problem-solving. Findings highlighted evidence of a communication strategy by specific actors in this network, supporting recent studies that indicate engagement between the public and health agencies can take place on social media. Practical implications and recommendations for communication preparation via social media for future health crises are discussed.