Clinical trial NCT05702008: Social Media as an Information, Education and Communication Tool for Rabies Prevention: An Interventional Study
Official title: Social Media as an Information, Education and Communication Tool for Rabies Prevention: An Interventional Study
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Rabies
Health Education
Public Health
Preventive Health Services
Lead sponsor: Maulana Azad Medical College
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2023-01-27
Enrollment: 300
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: Background: Rabies is a fatal disease that can be avoided by treating animal bites promptly. Hence, post-exposure prophylaxis is critical. As a result, the National Rabies Control Program was approved under the 12th five-year plan in India. One of its strategies is to engage in Information, Education and Communication activities. Social media provides an opportunity for the quick and easy dissemination of research but is constrained by a lack of peer review and the risk of misinterpretation. The efficacy of a novel social media-based knowledge dissemination strategy for rabies prevention was tested in this study.

Methods: An experimental study design was followed, wherein 144 preclinical medical students of Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi, India were included in each control and test group. The test group was administered the intervention, which exposed the participants to health education material via social media across a span of 30 days. Participants' knowledge, attitude and practices were observed before and after the study duration.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* adult individuals who have a smartphone, internet access and are WhatsApp users
* preclinical medical students, i.e., Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) 1st and 2nd professional year students

Exclusion Criteria:

* individuals who themselves have been a dog bite or rabies victim
* individuals who have a dog bite or rabies victim in the household
* individuals who developed the above criteria during the study duration were excluded from the data analysis

Primary outcomes:
measure: To measure the impact of a social media-based dissemination strategy on information dissemination and retention for rabies IEC material among preclinical medical students
timeFrame: 2 months
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Delhi
country: India
facility: Maulana Azad Medical College
Study officials:
References:
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