Leveraging Social Media to Increase Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Awareness in Los Angeles County (LAC)

Background:The LAC SIDS program provides mandated follow-up and support services for SIDS parents. Outreach for the community and families on SIDS includes education, resources on coping with an infant loss and burial support. With one public health nurse responsible for implementing the SIDS program to a population of 10.3 million residents in LAC, traditional public health outreach interventions are more difficult.  We looked to leverage our partnerships with faith based organizations, emphasizing internet and social media platforms to increase SIDS education and awareness of resources. 

Method:SIDS Program Safe messages were developed. Headquarters for major faith based organizations were contacted. SIDS Program messages were provided and posted in the organizations’ weekly bulletins, websites, facebook and twitter accounts. Descriptive analysis and Google analytics were performed.

Results:4 faith based organization headquarters, representing over 245 churches and their congregations participated in posting SIDS program messages in their bulletin, website, facebook and tweeter accounts.  Google analytics demonstrated a 400% increase in unique website hits to the SIDS Program website.  The 4 headquarter organizations were pleased with the partnership and eager to continue collaborating with the public health department on future public health messages.

Conclusion: Leveraging established social media messages from trusted and credible faith based organizations, is an effective method to educate and increase SIDS awareness. SIDS messaging as well as public health information can be delivered in a timely and cost effective manner.