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Increasing Community Awareness About Alzheimer’s Disease in Puerto Rico Through Coffee Shop Education and Social Media

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Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the fourth leading cause of death in Puerto Rico. Using multi-media resources and in-person education may be an effective approach to improve knowledge and awareness of AD. The Un Café por el Alzheimer program in Puerto Rico incorporates an education component at coffee shops and a social media campaign using Facebook. The current study evaluates this initiative through an analysis of pre/post education survey results and social media content and use. Surveys contained close-ended and open-ended questions to understand participants’ perceptions and knowledge about AD. Post-education surveys also included questions related to program satisfaction. Social media analysis of the Facebook community page examined posts from March 1 to September 30, 2015. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze survey and Facebook data. Four education sessions were conducted with a total of 212 participants. Fifty-one of the participants completed both pre- and post-surveys. Following the education program participants reported improved knowledge of risk and protective factors. All participants reported learning new information from the program. There were a total of 250 posts on the Un Café por el Alzheimer community Facebook page; 168 posts related to AD. The Facebook page reached 294,109 people, with 9963 page likes, 610 comments, 17,780 post clicks, and 3632 shares. There was an average increase of 64.8 % in number of people reached by the Facebook page following the education sessions. The approach of combining social media resources and in-person education is beneficial to increase public awareness of AD and disseminate health information.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by a grant from the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD) to the Puerto Rico Department of Health (3422015) and a cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Prevention Research Centers) Healthy Aging Program to the University of South Carolina (U48/DP005000-01S7). The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the NACDD and CDC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene Street, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Daniela B. Friedman & Andrea Gibson

  2. Puerto Rico Department of Health, San Juan, PR, USA

    William Torres, Jessica Irizarry & John Rodriguez

  3. College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Weizhou Tang

  4. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene Street, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Kristie Kannaley

Authors
  1. Daniela B. Friedman
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  2. Andrea Gibson
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  3. William Torres
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  4. Jessica Irizarry
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  5. John Rodriguez
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  6. Weizhou Tang
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  7. Kristie Kannaley
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Correspondence to Daniela B. Friedman.

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Friedman, D.B., Gibson, A., Torres, W. et al. Increasing Community Awareness About Alzheimer’s Disease in Puerto Rico Through Coffee Shop Education and Social Media. J Community Health 41, 1006–1012 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-016-0183-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-016-0183-9

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