CONVINCE: Health Communication to Influence COVID-19 Vaccination Intent and Message Propagation

Sponsor

Clinical Research Centre, Malaysia (Other)

Overall Status

Completed

CT.gov ID

NCT05244356

Collaborator

Institute for Health Behavioral Research, Malaysia (Other), University of Malaya (Other), UNICEF Malaysia (Other), Ministry of Health, Malaysia (Other), London School of Economics and Political Science (Other)

5,784

Enrollment

Location

Arms

1.3

Actual Duration (Months)

4514.1

Patients Per Site Per Month

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

This is a randomised controlled experiment in the form of a web based survey study which randomly exposes participants to different forms of public health messages, after which participants will be assessed on their intent to take up the COVID-19 vaccine, recommend the vaccine, and also willingness to propagate the exposed message.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
COVID-19 Respiratory Disease Vaccine Refusal Infectious Disease Coronavirus Infections Behavior, Health Pneumonia Respiratory Tract Infections Lung Diseases Pneumonia, Viral	Behavioral: Health message exposure	N/A

Study Design

Study Type:

Interventional

Actual Enrollment :

5784 participants

Allocation:

Randomized

Intervention Model:

Parallel Assignment

Masking:

Single (Participant)

Primary Purpose:

Other

Official Title:

Effective Public Health Communication to Influence COVID-19 Vaccination Intent and Message Propagation: A Randomized Controlled Experiment

Actual Study Start Date :

Apr 29, 2021

Actual Primary Completion Date :

Jun 7, 2021

Actual Study Completion Date :

Jun 7, 2021

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Descriptive Norm (70%) Intervention in the form of a message likened to a social media post. Composed of 3 parts: Opening tag line highlighting the main concern that Malaysians have about the COVID-19 vaccine (safety and side effects) Message content describing that about 70% of Malaysians have expressed acceptance for the COVID-19 vaccine. Rally slogan: "It's safe and effective!"	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Descriptive Norm Intervention in the form of a message likened to a social media post. Composed of 3 parts: Opening tag line highlighting the main concern that Malaysians have about the COVID-19 vaccine (safety and side effects) Message content describing that the COVID-19 vaccine has been widely tested including with the elderly and people with existing health conditions, while subsequently highlighting that the vaccine was already received by millions worldwide. Rally slogan: "It's safe and effective!"	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Healthcare worker (HCW) recommendation Intervention in the form of a message likened to a social media post. Composed of 3 parts: Opening tag line highlighting the main concern that Malaysians have about the COVID-19 vaccine (safety and side effects) Message content highlights recommendation from Malaysian healthcare workers to get the vaccine, since majority of them has already received it, including the Malaysian Health Director General Rally slogan: "It's safe and effective!"	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Negative attribute framing Intervention in the form of a message likened to a social media post. Composed of 3 parts: Opening tag line highlighting the main concern that Malaysians have about the COVID-19 vaccine (safety and side effects) Message content describing the rate of side effects occurring with COVID-19 vaccination in a negative frame. Rally slogan: "It's safe and effective!"	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Positive attribute framing Intervention in the form of a message likened to a social media post. Composed of 3 parts: Opening tag line highlighting the main concern that Malaysians have about the COVID-19 vaccine (safety and side effects) Message content describing the rate of side effects occurring with COVID-19 vaccination in a positive frame. Rally slogan: "It's safe and effective!"	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Risky choice framing (Safety) Intervention in the form of a message likened to a social media post. Composed of 3 parts: Opening tag line highlighting the main concern that Malaysians have about the COVID-19 vaccine (safety and side effects) Message content describing a risky choice frame which compares the death rates occurring with COVID-19 vaccination versus contracting the virus itself. Rally slogan: "It's safe and effective!"	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Risky choice framing (Side effects) Intervention in the form of a message likened to a social media post. Composed of 3 parts: Opening tag line highlighting the main concern that Malaysians have about the COVID-19 vaccine (safety and side effects) Message content describing a risky choice frame that compares the incidence rates of blood clots occurring with COVID-19 vaccination versus contracting COVID-19. Rally slogan: "It's safe and effective!"	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Control message Control message containing only rally slogan: "It's safe and effective!"	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Combination message: Descriptive Norm (70%) + Descriptive Norm Participants received 2 messages which were exposed one at a time. Sequence of message appearing randomly rotated.	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Combination message: Descriptive Norm (70%) + HCW recommendation Participants received 2 messages which were exposed one at a time. Sequence of message appearing randomly rotated.	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Combination message: Descriptive Norm (70%) + Negative attribute framing Participants received 2 messages which were exposed one at a time. Sequence of message appearing randomly rotated.	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Combination message: Descriptive Norm (70%) + Positive attribute framing Participants received 2 messages which were exposed one at a time. Sequence of message appearing randomly rotated.	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Combination message: Descriptive Norm (70%) + Risky choice framing (Safety) Participants received 2 messages which were exposed one at a time. Sequence of message appearing randomly rotated.	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.
Experimental: Combination message: Descriptive Norm (70%) + Risky choice framing (Side effects) Participants received 2 messages which were exposed one at a time. Sequence of message appearing randomly rotated.	Behavioral: Health message exposure Participants exposed to a health message and requested to read it completely. Subsequently requested to answer post intervention questions that form basis for outcome measures.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

Change in intent to accept the COVID-19 vaccine amongst the Malaysian adult population. [Immediately before and after message exposure during questionnaire administration.]
Outcome measure was assessed using a questionnaire answered through a 4 point ordinal scale. Scale ranges from '"Definitely no", "Not sure, but probably no", "Not sure, but probably yes"to Definitely yes".
Change in intent to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine to healthy adults. [Immediately before and after message exposure during questionnaire administration.]
Outcome measure was assessed using a questionnaire answered through a 5 point ordinal scale. Scale ranges from "Strongly disagree", "Disagree", "Not sure", "Agree", and "Strongly agree".
Change in intent to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine to elderly. [Immediately before and after message exposure during questionnaire administration.]
Outcome measure was assessed using a questionnaire answered through a 5 point ordinal scale. Scale ranges from "Strongly disagree", "Disagree", "Not sure", "Agree", and "Strongly agree".
Change in intent to recommend the COVID-19 vaccine to people with existing health conditions. [Immediately before and after message exposure during questionnaire administration.]
Outcome measure was assessed using a questionnaire answered through a 5 point ordinal scale. Scale ranges from "Strongly disagree", "Disagree", "Not sure", "Agree", and "Strongly agree".
Intent to share message on social media platform. [Immediately after message exposure during questionnaire administration.]
Outcome measure was assessed using a questionnaire answered through a 5 point ordinal scale.Scale ranges from "Strongly disagree", "Disagree", "Not sure", "Agree", and "Strongly agree".

Secondary Outcome Measures

Moderators of vaccination intent. [Immediately after message exposure during questionnaire administration.]
Outcome measure assessed using a series of questions answered through a 5 point ordinal scale. Scale ranges from "Strongly disagree", "Disagree", "Not sure", "Agree", and "Strongly agree".
Reliability of various information sources about COVID-19. [Immediately after message exposure during questionnaire administration.]
Outcome measure assessed using a questionnaire that list out various types of information sources and having participants to rate the reliability for each source using a 5 point ordinal scale. Scale ranges from "Strongly not reliable", "Not reliable, "Not sure", "Reliable", and "Strongly reliable".