These days, public health agencies such as the CDC are increasingly using social media to communicate directly with the public. We conducted a study to examine how the CDC and state health departments were doing based on their contents in 2017. This study was guided by the Extended Parallel Processing Model. This study was led by Dr. Cui Meadows at East Carolina University.

• The Facebook messages of both the CDC and SHDs cover a wide range of topics. This includes infectious disease outbreaks and general health issues and concerns, such as antibiotic use, cancer, cardiovascular disease, dental health, domestic violence, healthy eating, infant/child health, salmonella, smoking, travel safety, and immunization.
• Overall, the CDC’s messages are better crafted than those of state health departments in terms of including components that have been shown to be conducive to health behaviors, such as information about severity, susceptibility, self-efficacy and response efficacy.
• The federal and state health agencies rarely communicate self-efficacy related information on Facebook. This is problematic because efficacy information is critical to promoting healthy outcomes because high efficacy can help boost self-confidence and enhance the belief that the recommended action will work.

Meadows, C., Meadows, C. Z., Tang., L., (2020). The CDC and state health department Facebook messages: An examination of frames and the Extended Parallel Processing Model. Communication Studies 71(5): 740-752. doi: 10.1080/10510974.2020.1819839 [Full text]