Social media campaign to increase COVID-19 testing in migrant groups
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN15162325 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN15162325 |
| ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT) | Nil known |
| Clinical Trials Information System (CTIS) | Nil known |
| Protocol serial number | Nil known |
| Sponsor | Norwegian Institute of Public Health |
| Funders | Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Helsedirektoratet |
- Submission date
- 14/06/2021
- Registration date
- 15/06/2021
- Last edited
- 05/10/2022
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Infections and Infestations
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims:
Norwegian health authorities are using social media campaigns in the effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19, e.g. to encourage adherence to infection control measures, COVID-19 testing etc. A particular target group for such campaigns are migrants. The study's aim is to evaluate the effect of the social media campaign on the rate of migrants testing for Covid-19.
Who can participate?
The trial includes all persons with a Norwegian national identity number, registered as a resident of a Norwegian municipality or city district (in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim), of age 18 or older and registered as born in either Eritrea, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Somalia, Syria or Turkey.
What does the study involve?
Being exposed to the social media campaign.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Being exposed to the campaign may lead to more testing, which in turn may reveal COVID-19 infections that would otherwise not have been detected.
Where is the study run from?
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
June 2021 for 1 month
Who is funding the study?
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Who is the main contact?
Ingeborg Hess Elgersma, IngeborgHess.Elgersma@fhi.no
Contact information
Scientific
Norwegian Institute of Public Health
PO Box 222 Skøyen
Oslo
0213
Norway
 ORCID ID |
0000-0002-3402-4049 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +47 91649828 |
| atle.fretheim@fhi.no |
Study information
| Primary study design | Interventional |
|---|---|
| Study design | Interventional cluster randomized trial |
| Secondary study design | Cluster randomised trial |
| Study type | Participant information sheet |
| Scientific title | Evaluation of social media campaign to increase COVID-19 testing in migrant groups: A cluster randomised trial |
| Study objectives | A social media campaign can increase the rate of testing for COVID-19 among migrants. |
| Ethics approval(s) | Not required. The study does not qualify as health research, but as a quality improvement study, since health outcomes are not measured and the intervention is similar to interventions that are being routinely implemented by the government. |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Testing for COVID-19 |
| Intervention | Those belonging to the intervention group will be targeted, to the extent possible, with the social media campaign, which entails a message encouraging everyone to get tested for COVID-19. The campaign will run over 2 weeks. Those belonging to the control group will not receive any intervention related to the study. The randomisation is done at the municipality level, by means of a web-based randomisation tool. |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure(s) |
Number of COVID-19 tests conducted during the study period, as registered in the national registry for infection control (MSIS) |
| Key secondary outcome measure(s) |
Data from Facebook will be used to describe the reach of the campaign, e.g. the number of views, the number of clicks, the number of times the content was shared |
| Completion date | 22/06/2021 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Healthy volunteer |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Sex | All |
| Target sample size at registration | 234112 |
| Total final enrolment | 233903 |
| Key inclusion criteria | 1. Norwegian national identity number, registered as resident of a Norwegian municipality or city district (in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim) 2. Registered as born in either Eritrea, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Somalia, Syria or Turkey |
| Key exclusion criteria | Does not meet inclusion criteria |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/06/2021 |
| Date of final enrolment | 14/06/2021 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Norway
Study participating centre
Oslo
0213
Norway
Results and Publications
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
|---|---|
| IPD sharing plan summary | Not expected to be made available |
| IPD sharing plan | The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not expected to be made available due to legal (ethical and data privacy) reasons. However, we will attempt to prepare a synthetic version of the dataset if we receive requests from researchers who wish to replicate our analyses. The data code for our analyses will be made readily available for anyone who requests them. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Results article | 24/03/2022 | 25/04/2022 | Yes | No | |
| Participant information sheet | Participant information sheet | 11/11/2025 | 11/11/2025 | No | Yes |
| Protocol file | version 1 | 14/06/2021 | 05/10/2022 | No | No |
Additional files
- 40020 Protocol v1 14Jun2021.pdf
- Protocol file
Editorial Notes
05/10/2022: Uploaded protocol (not peer-reviewed) as an additional file.
25/04/2022: The following changes have been made:
1. Publication reference added.
2. The final enrolment number has been added from the reference.
15/06/2021: Trial's existence confirmed by Norwegian Directorate of Health.
